Belgium's debt-ridden Sabena said today it will file for bankruptcy, the final chapter in the demise of one of Europe's oldest airlines.
The carrier airline, majority-owned by the Belgian state, already had to cancel most of its flights today as its staff walked out on the company hours before the decision was taken.
Plans for the immediate launch of a successor airlines looked dim because of a lack of private investors.
"We will file quickly for bankruptcy," said Sabena chairman Mr Fred Chaffart.
"This is terrible but as the government, we have to deal with this as well as we possibly can," said privatisation minister Mr Rik Daems.
The Belgian government offered a one-month bridge loan worth £77.5 million when Sabena sought protection from creditors last month and would like to use that to jumpstart a successor airline through Sabena's affiliate DAT, which escaped the bankruptcy proceedings.
Private investors, unwilling to shore up Sabena ahead of a bankruptcy, could now step in to create a slimmed-down airline with purely European ambitions.
AP