Doubts about Sabena's future as Belgium's flagship airline rose yesterday as it declined to comment on a report that it might file for bankruptcy this week because it had failed to find investors to save it.

Sabena spokesman Mr Wilfried Remans declined to comment on an unsourced front-page report in the daily De Standaard that the ailing airline could file for bankruptcy by today. Asked whether the report was unfounded, Mr Remans said: "I didn't say that."

Belgian government officials also declined to comment, and an official at the Brussels commercial court said no new documents had arrived from Sabena since it filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month.

Such a filing by Sabena, which is 50.5 per cent owned by the state, would put the jobs of 12,000 people at risk.

De Standaard said no investors had come forward to rescue the loss-making carrier despite Public Enterprise Minister Rik Daems's announcement of contacts made with discount airline Virgin Express and other interested parties. But Virgin Express - whose main shareholder, British entrepreneur Mr Richard Branson, met Mr Daems earlier this month - said it was still interested in Sabena.

Elsewhere, pilots at Britain's second-largest airline, British Midland Airways, are being asked to halve working hours and pay in a bid to save jobs following the crisis hitting the sector. The work-share arrangement was secured by the pilots' union in talks with British Midland, the British Air Line Pilots Association said in a statement.