Sabena, the Belgian state-controlled airline, was formally declared bankrupt yesterday, but not before the country's government announced that it had raised €200 million (£157.5 million) to save up to half of Sabena's jobs.
The government said 12 private sector groups would put €155 million into a new company built around Sabena's regional subsidiary DAT, along with €45 million from state-controlled investment funds.
But, rushing to respond to events, it did not provide details of which companies were participating. Many of the boards of the firms involved have yet to approve any investment.
Speaking as his office, which was protected from demonstrating Sabena workers by a line of armoured vehicles, the Prime Minister, Mr Guy Verhofstadt, described the company's bankruptcy as "a moment of impotence and failure".
The company, which only twice recorded a profit since its foundation in 1923, finally fell foul of European Union rules against state aid to failing airlines. But Belgium hopes to switch some European, African and North American routes to DAT, which has historically operated 40 per cent of Sabena's flights. The government hopes to boost DAT's workforce from about 900 to over 2,000, guaranteeing a level of activity that will preserve jobs in other parts of the Sabena group, such as catering and ground-handling. Among the companies that have confirmed they will invest in the new group are BBL - the wholly-owned Belgian banking operation of ING - KBC and Dexia, the Belgian financial groups. Fortis, the Belgo-Dutch financial group, has signed a memorandum of understanding to provide new aid, while Electrabel and Tractebel, two Belgian arms of the French utility Suez, said they had seen the business plan for the new airlines.
"The good news is that there are some companies in Belgium who have not shied away from helping out, who want to alleviate the catastrophe of Sabena," said Mr Maurice Lippens, Fortis co-chairman, who was entrusted by Mr Verhofstadt to look for private investors for the project.
Mr Lippens said other companies would be attracted by the profitability of the venture and compared his efforts favourably with Switzerland's attempt to round up 1.5 billion Swiss francs to keep Swissair flying.
"This is not a Swiss way of doing things; we do not impose this on people," he said.
European budget airline EasyJet said yesterday it enjoyed a 33 per cent rise in passenger traffic last month as no-frills carriers continued to win market share from their struggling mainstream rivals.
