Sobelair ("Société Belge de transports par Air, S.A.") was founded short after world war II by three old Sabena staff. The first operations were heading towards Belgian Congo with a (transformed) ex-DC3 from the Royal Air Force. At the end of '47 the fleet had reached the level of 6 DC3s, all with a Congolese name. They also opened the first route to Ethiopia.

A bit later, SABENA managed to control the company. In '51, they introduced a first DC4, leased from Sabena, and in '54 they flew with 2 DC4s and 1 DC3. Sabena taking care of the technical support. After the independence of Congo in '60, there could be no way to maintain almost regular routes to Central Africa and the competition begun to rage against this little Belgian company.

In the mid sixties, it was decided that some Sabena's less productive routes (at least with heavy carriers) would be operated by Sobelair with some smaller planes, less expensive to fly. From 1969, Sobelair has been engaged in the growth of the touristic inclusive packages. Five Caravelles were flying and from 1970 even a first Boeing 707. This expansion led to long haul operations from 1979 but the economic crisis and the rise of fuel prices stopped this activity. The recession in airtrips was important and the 707s were progressively taken out off operations in favor of 737-200s.

The inflight magazine, during the winter 98-99, showed the DC3, DC6 and some Caravelles of the old times (still visible on their website). I flew myself in one of the Boeing 707s used in the 1970s and 1980s before they were replaced by Boeing 737-200s. A new livery was adopted in 1993, the same as Sabena : all white (see photos below). These days, they fly Boeing 737-300s and 400s. They got totally rid of the –200s in the mid 90s because of an agreement on noise emission with the inhabitants of the region of Brussels airport. From 96, the fleet got progressively completed by one (OO-SBY) and then a second Boeing 767-300ER (OO-STF) leased for direct Caribbean routes e.g. to the Dominican Republic, St Martin and Mexico.

These B767s are also used for medium haul routes to fill the gaps between long haul operations : for instance, they have been used to Teneriffe during the fall and the winter '99 and have been regularly used by Sabena to Israel. They are used now to Dakkar and Cabo Verde, Sabena's brand new destination.

The summer rush period makes them regularly "wet lease" additional planes from other companies. An Airbus A300 of Irish company Translift (EI-CJK, see below) was used "in wet lease" at least in 97 (probably in 98 too) as well as a (two, I guess) Sterling B-727s with installation of a Sobelair sticker on the fuselage (see last picture below). In the beginning the crew was "mixed" with some Irish girls looking for service... and safety.

In 99, two A300s TransAer (Translift had changed its name) appeared again, one with regular Sobelair livery (EI-CJK) and one (EI-TLB, below as well) completely white or with uncompleted livery. According to some good sources, those aircrafts are so old (1975...) and so worn out that they should retire very soon, not to say that their recent operations for Sobelair were their last operations at all (???).

Sobelair flies the usual charter routes to Mediterranean (including middle east) destinations and Madeira/Canary islands in addition of some European destinations. With the addition of the new Caribbean routes already mentioned before. In this last context, the 767s also fly out off Brussels to Curaçao and Bonaire (Dutch West Indies) for the Dutch touristic group Vandervalk, mainly for Dutch tourists.

As reported by many medias (also Trends, November 4th '99 edition), the company got involved in a judiciary affair in the late nineties (it is being handled by the Court during the fall '99) : some of their senior managers and pilots were prosecuted to have falsified the flight documents in order to reduce the frequency of safety and maintenance controls ! The operations manager had to leave. To be continued.

Due to Sabena's turbulences, Sobelair should be sold in 2001-2002 to allow Sabena to survive. Up to now, Sobelair has kept only Boeing aircraft (+ some Airbus short term wet lease contracts).
 

	OO-SLK, Sobelair Boeing 737-300 (1998), taxiing to parking after landing at Brussels (BRU) on Sept. 17th '99. It's really the standard plane of the company. This one has left the fleet in 1998 and flies as ZK-NGN for Air New Zealand !
	OO-SBY, Sobelair Boeing 767-300ER - 1994 - (at that time sole Boeing 767 leased by the company) taxing after landing (direct flight from Brussels) under the Caribbean sun at Punta Cana (PUJ), Dominican Republic, in December '95, within the first 12 months of operations for the company (first flight 06/94). The plane now flies for Vietnam Airlines as VN-A768.
	OO-SBY, "the pioneer" (the same), in a much better view, at Punta Cana (PUJ), on Jan. 21st '00. It has just stopped from taxiing after its landing from Brussels on runway 09. It will gather some passengers and forward its trip to Puerto Plata and... Brussels after a technical stop (refueling, disembarking and embarking passengers, cleaning cabin,...).
	OO-SBY (the same again) : view of the flight deck of flight SLR 1843 Brussels-Punta Cana-Puerto Plata on Jan. 7th '00 . The first officer is flying (mostly using the autopilot of course), the captain taking care of most radio communications. The landing at Punta Cana will be absolutely perfect : straight to the concrete without a single touch of bouncing by fairly strong wind. Hat off, Sir, you've done a great job.
	OO-STF, Sobelair Boeing 767-300ER - 1994 - (second Boeing 767, this one leased from Sunrock) disembarking passengers at St Maarten (SXM - Princess Juliana Int'l), Caribbean islands, in February '99.
	OO-STF, the same, burning rubber at landing on Dec. 25th '99 at Teneriffe South (TFS).
	The same again, OO-STF, Asiana Boeing 767-300ER at parking in front of technical hangar at Brussels, in March 01. This plane is nothing else than the first 767-300ER Sobelair leased for a few years for its first caribbean flights. Still wears the 00-STF reg. Since then it has become HL7200 at Asiana's.
	EI-CJK, Sobelair Airbus A300B4-103 (1975) leased from Translift by Sobelair seen at Faro (FAO), landing (reverse thrust caps open !) in July '96. This plane has lived many adventures : born as D-AMAY in Germany, she flew for a bunch of German companies (Germanair, Hapag, Condor,...) up to 1989. Then became French (F-BUAR) for 4 years (Air Inter, till '93) and finally Irish (EI-CJK) in '95 (Translift/TransAer), after Storage in Dallas. It was then subleased to Sobelair every summer between '96 and '99. Once to Iberia as well. Picture by Luis Rosa.
	The same plane, EI-CJK, Airbus A300 at Ibiza (IBZ) leased from Translift, disembarking passengers in August 96. By the way, the plane is now grounded and being used for spare parts !
	EI-CJK, again at Ibiza (IBZ). The same aircraft again at the same moment. This gives an idea how big the plane can be.
	EI-TLB, the other Airbus A300 (wet lease form TransAer) in service for Sobelair during the summer '99 with a rudimentary livery (the sticker is not even placed in the right position). Seen at Brussels on Sept. 19th  '99. This plane is a sistership of EI-CJK. Same year (1975), same origin (D-AMAX) for Germanair and so on. Only, this one went through more sublease contracts (Dan Air, Holiday Air, Air Maldives...). Now with Channel Express Airlines but... totally broken up for spare parts. Picture by Wim Neefs.
	To me, the two Airbus A300s from TransAer origin (EI-CJK and EI-TLB), in service with Sobelair on a "wet lease" basis during the summer '99. Seen side by side at Brussels (BRU) on September 17th '99.
	OY-SEZ, Boeing 727-200 at Faro (FAO), Portugal. It was leased from Sterling European for the summer charter rush time. As you can see, it only wears a basic Sobelair title on the fuselage, in addition to old Sterling livery and tail titles. Picture by Luis Rosa.

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