[QUOTE=fratboy;16325428]I don't think it can given that it was liquidated. Not sure how they managed to keep the SN code though. The new name sucks and doesn't have the same ring to it.[quote]

SABENA N.V. (in liquidation) still exists today, so does other SABENA companies... However SABENA sold the rights to the SABENA brand to SN Airholding N.V. (the parent company of Brussels Airlines and other companies) (via Delta Air Transport NV which was also used to start SN Airholding) so currently Brussels Airlines (or rather SN Airholding NV) is owner of the SABENA brand. QG the IATA code of DAT was dropped and so was SAB the ICAO code for SABENA. SN, the IATA code from SABENA and DAT, the ICAO code for Delta Air Transport where kept for the new company SN Brussels Airlines. Later the DAT ICAO code was dropped and BEL, the new ICAO code was adopted. When SN Brussels Airlines and Virgin Express merged the famous "S-tail" was also dropped in favour of the "dotted B".

Many people are saying that the Brussels Airlines brand sucks and I have to admit, I have the same opinion... Brussels Airlines sounds as a very tiny local airline, it doesn't sound like a flag carrier (which it actually is). For some reasons the management of SN Airholding never wanted to change the name to SABENA, even though they had the perfect opportunity back in 2007 when SN Brussels Airlines & Virgin Express merged into Brussels Airlines. SABENA was (and still is) a solid brand, a name that rings a bell, a name connected to one of the oldest airlines in the world, a pioneer in several cases... SABENA was know for his service, his Africa experience, the aviation school who delivered some of the finest pilots in the world, etc... Unfortunately SABENA, back in the old days owned by the government, was also a bottomless pit, a company where everyone could get a big paid job if you knew the right persons... It was funded solely through governement money and when the day came it wasn't allowed anymore by the European laws they sought and found an investor, Swissair... An investor that was responsable for the bankruptcy of SABENA due bad decissions, lack of investments (that where promised), etc... The 90's were also the years when the service lacked of quality, even though flying with one of the newest fleets in the world... So in Belgium SABENA isn't connected with a glorious airline anymore, most of the people know SABENA as the company where one who knew the right person got a job, the company that burned a lot of governmental money, a failed company... This is (was) one of the main reasons why Brussels Airlines isn't called SABENA...

Maybe the brand can be revived when LH ownes SN in full, when they buy SN completely in the next couple of years (if it happens) they will also own the SABENA brand...

However, this year, 10 years after going in liquidation, it would be a nice time to re-introduce the SABENA brand...