WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.620 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we're doing 00:00:02.620 --> 00:00:04.719 something a little bit different. We are, yeah. 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:07.620 Usually we look at a specific technology, maybe 00:00:07.620 --> 00:00:11.140 a philosophy or a recent trend. But today we 00:00:11.140 --> 00:00:13.699 are looking at what I can only describe as a 00:00:13.699 --> 00:00:16.600 national trauma. That is not an overstatement 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:19.039 at all. We are unpacking the story of Sabina. 00:00:19.260 --> 00:00:21.519 And on the surface, sure, it's a story about 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:25.039 an airline. It's about planes, routes, jet engines. 00:00:25.239 --> 00:00:28.199 Right. But when you actually peel back the layers 00:00:28.199 --> 00:00:30.300 of the research you've brought today, this isn't 00:00:30.300 --> 00:00:34.020 really about aviation, is it? It's about colonial 00:00:34.020 --> 00:00:38.200 ambition. It's about the brutal reality of geopolitics. 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:40.600 And it's about one of the most spectacular corporate 00:00:40.600 --> 00:00:43.000 suicides in European history. It really is the 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:45.299 rise and fall of a country's ego in a way. It 00:00:45.299 --> 00:00:47.759 is. You have this entity that operated for 78 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:50.500 years. It was a symbol of Belgium. The flag carrier. 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:53.119 Absolutely. It linked the tiny motherland to 00:00:53.119 --> 00:00:55.899 this massive colony in Africa. It survived World 00:00:55.899 --> 00:00:58.899 War II. It flew the first jets across the Atlantic. 00:00:59.100 --> 00:01:01.759 And then in 2001, it didn't just go bankrupt. 00:01:01.979 --> 00:01:04.680 It imploded. And I think for a lot of people, 00:01:04.739 --> 00:01:07.420 especially if you aren't Belgian, Sabina is just 00:01:07.420 --> 00:01:10.200 a name from the past, a logo you might remember 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:12.000 seeing in an old movie or something. Or a bit 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:15.239 of retro nostalgia. Exactly. But the scale of 00:01:15.239 --> 00:01:19.019 this collapse, it shook the aviation world. It 00:01:19.019 --> 00:01:21.920 left thousands jobless and essentially erased 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:25.000 a national icon overnight. But to understand 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:27.620 why the crash was so loud, we have to understand 00:01:27.620 --> 00:01:30.099 just how high they climbed. Well, let's start 00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:32.459 with the name itself, because Sabina sounds pleasant 00:01:32.459 --> 00:01:34.640 enough. It's got a nice ring to it. It does. 00:01:34.900 --> 00:01:37.920 But I was looking at the notes and it's an acronym 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:41.840 and not a cute. marketing -friendly acronym either. 00:01:42.019 --> 00:01:45.200 No, it is extremely bureaucratic. It stands for 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:48.959 Société Anonyme Belge d 'Exploitation de la Navigation 00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:51.700 Aérienne. Which translates to? The Belgian Corporation 00:01:51.700 --> 00:01:54.900 for the Exploitation of Aerial Navigation. Exploitation 00:01:54.900 --> 00:01:57.500 of Aerial Navigation. Yeah. It sounds like something 00:01:57.500 --> 00:01:59.959 a villain in a steampunk novel would run. It's 00:01:59.959 --> 00:02:02.519 very 1923, isn't it? It reflects the mindset 00:02:02.519 --> 00:02:04.900 of the time. I mean, the air wasn't just a place 00:02:04.900 --> 00:02:07.939 to travel through. It was a resource to be mastered, 00:02:08.039 --> 00:02:10.740 to be exploited. It was industrial. And you have 00:02:10.740 --> 00:02:14.319 to remember, in 1923, aviation was barely 20 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:16.379 years old. The Wright brothers were still alive. 00:02:16.659 --> 00:02:21.099 So paint the picture for us. 1923, Belgium. Why 00:02:21.099 --> 00:02:24.460 does a country the size of a postage stamp, and 00:02:24.460 --> 00:02:26.280 no offense to Belgium, but you can drive across 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:29.639 it in a couple of hours, why do they need a corporation 00:02:29.639 --> 00:02:32.300 for the exploitation of aerial navigation? That 00:02:32.300 --> 00:02:34.159 is the million dollar question. I mean, if you 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:36.680 look at a map of Europe, a domestic airline for 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:38.960 Belgium makes zero sense. You just take a train. 00:02:39.099 --> 00:02:41.960 You take a train. But Sabina wasn't created to 00:02:41.960 --> 00:02:45.340 fly Belgians from Brussels to Antwerp. It was 00:02:45.340 --> 00:02:47.180 created because of what was happening thousands 00:02:47.180 --> 00:02:50.020 of miles south. The Congo. Exactly. The Belgian 00:02:50.020 --> 00:02:52.719 Congo. The colony. You cannot separate the history 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:54.900 of Sabina from the history of colonialism. The 00:02:54.900 --> 00:02:57.060 airline was arguably created for the colony. 00:02:57.240 --> 00:02:59.780 So before Sabina, there was an attempt, right? 00:02:59.939 --> 00:03:02.639 Sneda. Right. Sneda. National Syndicate for the 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:04.979 Study of Aerial Transports. Another kitschy name. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:08.439 Oh, yeah. SNETA was the beta test. They spent 00:03:08.439 --> 00:03:10.719 a few years, you know, crashing planes and figuring 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:13.379 out if this whole flying thing was commercially 00:03:13.379 --> 00:03:15.719 viable. And when they folded? When they folded, 00:03:15.740 --> 00:03:18.819 the Belgian government and some private investors, 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:21.460 specifically the different families, said, OK, 00:03:21.620 --> 00:03:24.599 we need to make this permanent. But again, this 00:03:24.599 --> 00:03:26.939 wasn't just about prestige or having a cool new 00:03:26.939 --> 00:03:29.139 airline. There was a specific group of people 00:03:29.139 --> 00:03:32.159 demanding this. The colonists. There were Belgians 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:34.639 living and working in the Congo who felt completely 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:37.500 cut off. Right. They had briefly had a local 00:03:37.500 --> 00:03:40.939 air service called LRA, but it went bust. So 00:03:40.939 --> 00:03:42.819 you had this immense pressure from the colonial 00:03:42.819 --> 00:03:45.340 elite saying, we need a lifeline. We need to 00:03:45.340 --> 00:03:47.719 move mail, diamonds, gold, and people faster 00:03:47.719 --> 00:03:50.539 than a river barge. So Sabine is born in 1923. 00:03:51.050 --> 00:03:53.069 They do the obligatory first hop to London, I 00:03:53.069 --> 00:03:56.990 assume. Of course. July 1st, 1923, Brussels to 00:03:56.990 --> 00:04:00.270 London via Ostend. Then they add Rotterdam, Strasbourg, 00:04:00.469 --> 00:04:02.710 Hamburg. The usual suspects. The usual suspects, 00:04:02.870 --> 00:04:04.750 yeah. But these were sight shows. The mission, 00:04:04.889 --> 00:04:07.289 with a capital M, the absolute obsession of the 00:04:07.289 --> 00:04:10.150 company, was to link Brussels to Leopoldville, 00:04:10.189 --> 00:04:12.610 what is now Kinshasa. Okay, I want to pause here. 00:04:13.229 --> 00:04:16.449 Because today, Brussels to Kinshasa is what? 00:04:16.610 --> 00:04:19.519 Eight hours? Maybe nine? About eight hours on 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:22.740 an Airbus A330. You watch two movies, eat a mediocre 00:04:22.740 --> 00:04:25.600 meal, and you're there. Right. In 1925, when 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:27.480 they decided to try this for the first time. 00:04:27.579 --> 00:04:30.199 Yeah. It wasn't eight hours. No, it was 51 days. 00:04:30.660 --> 00:04:34.399 51 days. Yes. Sorry, what? If I tell my boss, 00:04:34.540 --> 00:04:36.339 hey, I'm going on a business trip, I'll see you 00:04:36.339 --> 00:04:39.519 in two months, I'm getting fired. How is 51 days 00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:41.990 a success? Well, you have to look at the alternative. 00:04:42.189 --> 00:04:44.930 The alternative was a sea voyage that took weeks, 00:04:44.990 --> 00:04:47.550 followed by a river journey that took more weeks. 00:04:47.689 --> 00:04:50.189 Okay, fair enough. But the 51 days wasn't the 00:04:50.189 --> 00:04:53.370 flight time. It was the adventure time. This 00:04:53.370 --> 00:04:56.509 was Edmund Thiefrey, a World War I ace, along 00:04:56.509 --> 00:04:59.009 with a pilot named Leopold Roger and a mechanic, 00:04:59.290 --> 00:05:02.670 Joseph DeBricker. They took off in a Handley 00:05:02.670 --> 00:05:06.310 Page W -8. A biplane. A biplane made of wood 00:05:06.310 --> 00:05:08.550 and fabric. And they weren't just flying. They 00:05:08.550 --> 00:05:10.850 were battling the planet. They had mechanical 00:05:10.850 --> 00:05:13.649 failures constantly. They had to wait for parts 00:05:13.649 --> 00:05:16.050 to be shipped by train or by boat to wherever 00:05:16.050 --> 00:05:18.329 they were stuck. They got bogged down in mud. 00:05:18.750 --> 00:05:21.250 They navigated by looking at rivers and hoping 00:05:21.250 --> 00:05:23.629 the map was right. It sounds less like an airline 00:05:23.629 --> 00:05:25.930 route and more like the Lewis and Clark expedition. 00:05:26.029 --> 00:05:28.269 That's a great analogy. That's exactly what it 00:05:28.269 --> 00:05:31.300 was. When they finally landed in Leopoldville, 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:33.699 they were national heroes. But to your point, 00:05:33.740 --> 00:05:35.879 no, you couldn't run a scheduled service taking 00:05:35.879 --> 00:05:38.759 51 days. So it was a proof of concept. It proved 00:05:38.759 --> 00:05:41.060 it was physically possible. So how do you turn 00:05:41.060 --> 00:05:44.019 that stunt into a business? You build. And this 00:05:44.019 --> 00:05:45.939 is the part of the story that often gets glazed 00:05:45.939 --> 00:05:49.500 over. The African imperative. Between 1923 and 00:05:49.500 --> 00:05:53.560 1926, Sabina oversaw a massive construction program 00:05:53.560 --> 00:05:57.319 in the Congo. They cleared jungle to build aerodromes. 00:05:57.459 --> 00:05:59.870 And when you say they cleared jungle, I'm picturing 00:05:59.870 --> 00:06:02.250 something pretty grim. I mean, you have to assume 00:06:02.250 --> 00:06:05.329 they used forced labor or at least very low paid 00:06:05.329 --> 00:06:08.389 colonial labor to hack runways out of the dense 00:06:08.389 --> 00:06:11.990 forest. This was brutal, dangerous work. They 00:06:11.990 --> 00:06:14.670 built a network connecting Boma, Leopoldville 00:06:14.670 --> 00:06:18.850 and Elizabethville. That's a 2288 kilometer route 00:06:18.850 --> 00:06:21.269 over territory that if you crash, you are likely 00:06:21.269 --> 00:06:23.829 never coming out of. So for a while, Sabina is 00:06:23.829 --> 00:06:26.509 essentially. Two different airlines. Precisely. 00:06:26.509 --> 00:06:28.970 You have the European division flying dignitaries 00:06:28.970 --> 00:06:31.769 to London for tea. Very civilized. And then you 00:06:31.769 --> 00:06:34.449 have the African division where planes were shipped 00:06:34.449 --> 00:06:37.649 in crates by sea, assembled at the docks in Boma, 00:06:37.829 --> 00:06:40.529 and then flown over the jungle. And the two networks 00:06:40.529 --> 00:06:42.470 didn't even connect. They didn't touch for years. 00:06:42.589 --> 00:06:44.850 It's like having a subway system in New York 00:06:44.850 --> 00:06:46.649 and a bus system in Hong Kong and calling it 00:06:46.649 --> 00:06:48.870 the same transit authority. That is wild. Until 00:06:48.870 --> 00:06:52.029 1935. That's the golden spike moment. The technology 00:06:52.029 --> 00:06:54.430 finally caught up. They introduced the Fokker 00:06:54.430 --> 00:06:58.129 F7. The trimotor. The famous trimotor. It could 00:06:58.129 --> 00:07:01.569 fly relatively long distances reliably. So they 00:07:01.569 --> 00:07:04.069 launched the first regular scheduled passenger 00:07:04.069 --> 00:07:06.709 service between Brussels and the Congo. And what 00:07:06.709 --> 00:07:08.990 was the travel time now? We're down from 51 days? 00:07:09.370 --> 00:07:12.430 Five and a half days. Okay. It's a quantum leap. 00:07:12.610 --> 00:07:14.629 I mean, it's a game changer. And then just a 00:07:14.629 --> 00:07:18.310 year later in 1936, they get the Savoia Marchetti 00:07:18.310 --> 00:07:22.649 SM .73. Italian planes. Yeah. Fast Italian planes. 00:07:23.149 --> 00:07:25.470 Basically converted bombers. And they cut the 00:07:25.470 --> 00:07:28.370 trip down to four days. Four days. I'm just trying 00:07:28.370 --> 00:07:29.949 to imagine the passenger experience. You're in 00:07:29.949 --> 00:07:33.410 a noisy, unpressurized metal tube for four days. 00:07:33.529 --> 00:07:35.850 It was an endurance sport. It really was. You 00:07:35.850 --> 00:07:38.470 flew during the day. You landed at these colonial 00:07:38.470 --> 00:07:41.689 outposts at night to sleep in hotels, often Sabina 00:07:41.689 --> 00:07:43.750 -owned hotels, by the way. Of course. Vertical 00:07:43.750 --> 00:07:46.389 integration. Exactly. You'd shower, have a gin 00:07:46.389 --> 00:07:48.149 and tonic, sleep under a mosquito net, and then 00:07:48.149 --> 00:07:50.629 get back in the plane at dawn. It was exclusive. 00:07:50.829 --> 00:07:53.790 It was expensive. And it was exhausting. But 00:07:53.790 --> 00:07:55.750 it worked. They were the umbilical cord of the 00:07:55.750 --> 00:07:58.910 empire. They were. By the late 1930s, Sabina 00:07:58.910 --> 00:08:00.750 was one of the most important airlines in the 00:08:00.750 --> 00:08:02.949 world purely because of its route length. But 00:08:02.949 --> 00:08:05.889 then, obviously, 1940 rolls around. And the Nazis 00:08:05.889 --> 00:08:08.389 invade Belgium. Game over for the European network. 00:08:08.569 --> 00:08:11.769 But, and this is key, the African network kept 00:08:11.769 --> 00:08:14.410 running. Oh, really? Yes. The planes in the Congo 00:08:14.410 --> 00:08:16.189 were used by the Allies. They kept the supply 00:08:16.189 --> 00:08:18.750 lines open. So while the company in Brussels 00:08:18.750 --> 00:08:21.750 was dormant under occupation, the heart of the 00:08:21.750 --> 00:08:24.189 airline was still beating in the tropics. So 00:08:24.189 --> 00:08:28.850 the war ends, 1945. Belgium is liberated. And 00:08:28.850 --> 00:08:31.149 aviation has changed completely. Completely. 00:08:31.569 --> 00:08:35.129 The war accelerated aviation technology by two 00:08:35.129 --> 00:08:38.250 decades. Suddenly you have concrete runways everywhere. 00:08:38.309 --> 00:08:41.350 You have radar. And most importantly, you have 00:08:41.350 --> 00:08:44.570 surplus American aircraft. The Douglas DC -4s 00:08:44.570 --> 00:08:47.429 and DC -3s. Thousands of them. Cheap, reliable 00:08:47.429 --> 00:08:50.850 and available. And Sabina grabs them. They rebrand. 00:08:50.990 --> 00:08:53.970 The name becomes Sabina Belgian World Airlines. 00:08:54.330 --> 00:08:56.350 They want everyone to know they are back and 00:08:56.350 --> 00:08:59.610 they are thinking big. And in June 1946, they 00:08:59.610 --> 00:09:01.409 launched their first route to New York City. 00:09:01.769 --> 00:09:04.409 Using the DC -4. Yep. Now, correct me if I'm 00:09:04.409 --> 00:09:06.929 wrong, the DC -4 is unpressurized. It is, very 00:09:06.929 --> 00:09:08.850 much so. So they are flying across the North 00:09:08.850 --> 00:09:11.409 Atlantic. For roughly 18 to 20 hours with a stop 00:09:11.409 --> 00:09:13.730 in Gander or Shannon. In an unpressurized tube. 00:09:13.929 --> 00:09:15.389 Which means they can't fly over the weather. 00:09:15.450 --> 00:09:17.750 If there's a storm at 10 ,000 feet, you are in 00:09:17.750 --> 00:09:20.429 the storm. Very. And if it's freezing outside, 00:09:20.710 --> 00:09:24.070 it's cold inside, it was loud, those piston engines 00:09:24.070 --> 00:09:26.870 are deafening compared to modern jets. But for 00:09:26.870 --> 00:09:28.610 the first time, you could buy a ticket in Brussels 00:09:28.610 --> 00:09:30.879 and wake up in New York the next day. It's the 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:33.860 start of modern globalization, really. But I 00:09:33.860 --> 00:09:35.879 want to talk about the dangers here, because 00:09:35.879 --> 00:09:39.019 looking at the timeline, the 1950s for Sabina 00:09:39.019 --> 00:09:41.659 wasn't just about commercial growth. It was about 00:09:41.659 --> 00:09:44.580 dodging bullets, literally. But the Cold War. 00:09:44.700 --> 00:09:47.340 Yeah. You have to remember, geographically, flying 00:09:47.340 --> 00:09:49.799 from Western Europe to the Balkans or the Middle 00:09:49.799 --> 00:09:53.220 East meant skirting the Iron Curtain. Tell me 00:09:53.220 --> 00:09:55.720 about the 1954 incident, because this reads like 00:09:55.720 --> 00:09:57.860 something out of a Tom Clancy novel. It's incredible. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:02.120 June 3rd, 1954. A Sabina DC -3 is flying a cargo 00:10:02.120 --> 00:10:05.039 run from the UK to Yugoslavia. Okay. And it's 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:07.179 carrying breeding pigs, of all things. Pigs? 00:10:07.399 --> 00:10:09.740 Pigs. High -value livestock. They're flying near 00:10:09.740 --> 00:10:12.200 the Yugoslav -Austrian border. Now, navigation 00:10:12.200 --> 00:10:14.720 back then wasn't GPS perfect. Maybe they drifted, 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:17.620 maybe they didn't. But a Soviet MiG -15 fighter 00:10:17.620 --> 00:10:19.740 jet intercepts them. And usually an intercept 00:10:19.740 --> 00:10:21.620 means, tip your wings, follow me to the airport. 00:10:21.940 --> 00:10:24.620 Usually. But this pilot wasn't in the mood for 00:10:24.620 --> 00:10:28.149 chatting. The MiG opens fire with heavy cannons. 00:10:28.289 --> 00:10:31.629 On a cargo plane full of pigs. Yes, it just shreds 00:10:31.629 --> 00:10:34.450 the cockpit. The radio operator is killed instantly. 00:10:34.769 --> 00:10:36.769 Oh my god. The captain and the engineer are both 00:10:36.769 --> 00:10:39.870 wounded. The plane starts diving out of control. 00:10:40.250 --> 00:10:42.929 So who is flying the plane? The co -pilot, a 00:10:42.929 --> 00:10:45.370 guy named Douglas Wilson, and the wounded captain 00:10:45.370 --> 00:10:48.629 manage to regain some control. The hydraulics 00:10:48.629 --> 00:10:50.470 are shot out, the electricals are dead, they 00:10:50.470 --> 00:10:53.480 are bleeding, and somehow... They managed to 00:10:53.480 --> 00:10:56.200 crash land this thing in a field in Austria. 00:10:56.399 --> 00:10:59.360 That is insane. It was a massive diplomatic incident. 00:10:59.700 --> 00:11:02.220 But it showed that Sabina was operating on the 00:11:02.220 --> 00:11:04.580 jagged edge of the world. They weren't just a 00:11:04.580 --> 00:11:07.139 business. They were a flag carrier in a very, 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:09.779 very dangerous time. And yet, amidst all this 00:11:09.779 --> 00:11:11.659 danger, they were being incredibly innovative. 00:11:11.940 --> 00:11:13.720 I was surprised to read about the helicopter 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:16.220 network. Because when I think of airlines, I 00:11:16.220 --> 00:11:17.879 do not think of scheduled helicopter service. 00:11:18.019 --> 00:11:19.740 Oh, this is the coolest part of their history, 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:22.440 I think. For the 1958 World Expo in Brussels, 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:24.639 the one that gave us the Atomium Sabina decided 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:26.779 they wanted to be the airline of the future. 00:11:27.159 --> 00:11:29.440 Right. A big marketing moment. Huge. So they 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:32.779 bought a fleet of Sikorsky S -58 helicopters. 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:34.899 These are the big ones with the piston engine 00:11:34.899 --> 00:11:37.340 in the nose. The ones you see in MRH. Exactly. 00:11:37.820 --> 00:11:41.320 Loud, rattling beasts. And they set up a scheduled 00:11:41.320 --> 00:11:43.240 network. You could fly from downtown Brussels 00:11:43.240 --> 00:11:47.419 to downtown Paris. Not the airports. The city 00:11:47.419 --> 00:11:49.340 centers. Wait, wait. So I could walk out of a 00:11:49.340 --> 00:11:51.360 meeting in Brussels, hop in a helicopter, and 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:53.419 land near the Eiffel Tower. That was the idea, 00:11:53.480 --> 00:11:56.240 yes. They flew to the heliport at Issylum, Illinois. 00:11:56.460 --> 00:11:59.799 in Paris. They also flew to Antwerp, Rotterdam, 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:03.059 Eindhoven, Duisburg. It was the only international 00:12:03.059 --> 00:12:05.919 helicopter airline network in the world. Why 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:07.340 don't we have this now? That sounds amazing. 00:12:07.740 --> 00:12:10.080 It was amazing. It was also phenomenally expensive. 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:13.000 Helicopters guzzle fuel. They carry very few 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:15.860 people, maybe 12 passengers. And they are maintenance 00:12:15.860 --> 00:12:18.879 nightmares. Sabina lost money on every single 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:21.440 flight. But as a marketing tool. It was genius. 00:12:21.539 --> 00:12:23.480 It made them look like the most advanced airline 00:12:23.480 --> 00:12:26.080 in Europe. Very Jetsons. It is very Jetsons. 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:28.480 And it set them up perfectly for the actual jet 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:32.220 age. Yeah. 1960, the Boeing 707 arrives. The 00:12:32.220 --> 00:12:34.360 plane that changed the world. It really did. 00:12:34.519 --> 00:12:37.360 And Sabina was the first airline in mainland 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:40.580 Europe to fly a jet across the Atlantic. They 00:12:40.580 --> 00:12:43.759 beat Air France. They beat Lufthansa. They were 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:46.360 incredibly proud of this. But the jet age has 00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:49.679 a dark side. As we know, speed kills. It does, 00:12:49.899 --> 00:12:51.740 and Sabina learned this in the most horrific 00:12:51.740 --> 00:12:55.820 way possible. February 15th, 1961, Sabina Flight 00:12:55.820 --> 00:12:59.159 548. This is the crash that everyone in the figure 00:12:59.159 --> 00:13:02.379 skating world knows. Yes. A brand new Boeing 00:13:02.379 --> 00:13:06.240 707 on approach to Brussels airport. For some 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:08.039 reason, it doesn't go around. It circles and 00:13:08.039 --> 00:13:10.480 then suddenly it banks hard almost 90 degrees 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:13.379 and slams into the ground in a field. And the 00:13:13.379 --> 00:13:15.740 passenger list. The passenger list was just devastating. 00:13:15.960 --> 00:13:18.240 It was the entire United States figure skating 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:21.360 team. The coaches, the skaters, the family members. 00:13:21.500 --> 00:13:22.960 They were on their way to the world championships 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:25.700 in Prague. Everyone on board. Everyone. 73 people 00:13:25.700 --> 00:13:27.690 on the plane. plus one person on the ground, 00:13:27.809 --> 00:13:30.250 everyone died. Did they ever find out why it 00:13:30.250 --> 00:13:32.809 happened? Not definitively. The investigation 00:13:32.809 --> 00:13:34.970 pointed towards a mechanical failure in the tail 00:13:34.970 --> 00:13:37.950 stabilizer, but it was never 100 % conclusive. 00:13:38.029 --> 00:13:40.730 But for Sabina, the timing was just awful. I 00:13:40.730 --> 00:13:43.149 could imagine. They had just launched this new 00:13:43.149 --> 00:13:46.230 era of speed and luxury, and suddenly they're 00:13:46.230 --> 00:13:48.429 the face of one of the worst aviation disasters 00:13:48.429 --> 00:13:50.789 of the decade. And this brings us to the pivotal 00:13:50.789 --> 00:13:54.690 moment. Because the year 1960 wasn't just about 00:13:54.690 --> 00:13:57.639 jets. It was about the very reason for Sabina's 00:13:57.639 --> 00:14:00.620 existence. Independence. The Congo becomes independent. 00:14:01.059 --> 00:14:05.139 June 30, 1960. The Belgian colony becomes the 00:14:05.139 --> 00:14:08.019 Democratic Republic of the Congo. And almost 00:14:08.019 --> 00:14:11.519 immediately, chaos erupts. The Congo crisis. 00:14:11.960 --> 00:14:14.700 And for Sabina, this isn't just a political headline. 00:14:14.840 --> 00:14:16.840 This is their entire business model collapsing. 00:14:16.860 --> 00:14:19.419 It's worse than that. It's an operational nightmare. 00:14:19.929 --> 00:14:22.309 The Belgian government commandeers the entire 00:14:22.309 --> 00:14:24.690 long -haul fleet. They stop selling tickets. 00:14:24.809 --> 00:14:27.149 They turn the airline into a refugee evacuation 00:14:27.149 --> 00:14:29.789 service. To get the Belgian nationals out. Yes. 00:14:30.009 --> 00:14:32.490 They airlifted something like 35 ,000 people 00:14:32.490 --> 00:14:34.409 in a matter of weeks. They were cramming people 00:14:34.409 --> 00:14:37.970 into the aisles of these new Boeing 707s. It 00:14:37.970 --> 00:14:40.409 was an incredible logistical feat. But commercially. 00:14:40.690 --> 00:14:42.269 Commercially, it destroyed them. Because once 00:14:42.269 --> 00:14:44.830 the airlift is over. Once it's over, the monopoly 00:14:44.830 --> 00:14:47.450 is gone. The new Congolese government creates 00:14:47.450 --> 00:14:51.049 its own airline, Air Congo. Sabina is allowed 00:14:51.049 --> 00:14:53.149 to help manage it, but they only get a 30 percent 00:14:53.149 --> 00:14:55.669 state. The African imperative that justified 00:14:55.669 --> 00:14:58.889 the airline size for 40 years just evaporated. 00:14:59.009 --> 00:15:01.049 So now you have a large airline with a large 00:15:01.049 --> 00:15:04.340 fleet. based in a small country with no massive 00:15:04.340 --> 00:15:07.179 lucrative colony to subsidize. Exactly. This 00:15:07.179 --> 00:15:09.039 is the beginning of what I would call the identity 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:14.120 crisis era. From 1960 to 1990, Sabina is basically 00:15:14.120 --> 00:15:17.080 a zombie. It's walking, it's flying, but financially... 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:19.220 It's dead. But the government kept it alive. 00:15:19.419 --> 00:15:21.299 Oh, constantly. The Belgian state pumped money 00:15:21.299 --> 00:15:23.279 into it year after year. Because you have to 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:25.720 understand, a national airline in the 20th century 00:15:25.720 --> 00:15:27.879 was like a national flag. You couldn't just let 00:15:27.879 --> 00:15:30.620 it die. It was a matter of pride. So they modernized. 00:15:30.620 --> 00:15:33.259 They bought the Boeing 727s in the 60s. Beautiful 00:15:33.259 --> 00:15:35.779 planes. They had that distinctive bare metal 00:15:35.779 --> 00:15:38.080 rudder that looked so sleek. And then in the 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:41.279 70s, they bought the jumbo jet. The 747. Two 00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:44.240 of them. And in a very Belgian, very cozy way, 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:47.860 they named the first one Tante Agathe. Aunt Agathe. 00:15:48.019 --> 00:15:50.500 See, that's charming. I'm flying to New York 00:15:50.500 --> 00:15:53.399 on Aunt Agathe. Yeah. But... Does a country the 00:15:53.399 --> 00:15:56.379 size of Belgium really need a 747? Probably not. 00:15:56.519 --> 00:15:59.419 I mean, the 747 is a plane designed for massive 00:15:59.419 --> 00:16:03.100 volume, high capacity between huge hubs like 00:16:03.100 --> 00:16:05.679 London and New York. Sabina really struggled 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:07.519 to fill it. So it was a status symbol. It was 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:09.960 pure status. Look, we are a big boy airline. 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:13.169 We have a jumbo. But the economics were brutal. 00:16:13.269 --> 00:16:15.830 The oil crises of the 70s hit them incredibly 00:16:15.830 --> 00:16:19.429 hard. So we get to the 1990s. The world is changing 00:16:19.429 --> 00:16:22.190 again. The European Union is getting serious 00:16:22.190 --> 00:16:26.190 about competition laws. And state aid becomes 00:16:26.190 --> 00:16:28.370 a dirty word. This is the turning point. The 00:16:28.370 --> 00:16:30.169 Belgian government can no longer just write a 00:16:30.169 --> 00:16:32.230 check every year to cover the losses. The EU 00:16:32.230 --> 00:16:35.029 says no more. Sabina has to stand on its own 00:16:35.029 --> 00:16:37.110 two feet. Sabina looks in the mirror and realizes. 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:39.899 We're too small. They were in what consultants 00:16:39.899 --> 00:16:42.539 call the dead zone. They weren't a global giant 00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:45.320 like British Airways or Lufthansa. And they weren't 00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:47.860 a low -cost niche carrier like the emerging Ryanair. 00:16:47.960 --> 00:16:50.360 Stuck in the middle. A mid -sized, high -cost 00:16:50.360 --> 00:16:52.799 legacy carrier with a limited network. They needed 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:55.559 a partner. Badly. It sounds like they were desperate 00:16:55.559 --> 00:16:57.860 for a date to the prom. They were swiping right 00:16:57.860 --> 00:17:00.779 on everyone. In the late 80s, they tried to merge 00:17:00.779 --> 00:17:03.360 with SAS Scandinavian Airlines. That actually 00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:05.859 made a lot of sense. Two similar -sized carriers 00:17:05.859 --> 00:17:09.039 combining forces. What happened? Politics. The 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:11.740 deal got blocked by internal squabbling. Then 00:17:11.740 --> 00:17:15.099 British Airways and KLM bought stakes. That fell 00:17:15.099 --> 00:17:17.220 apart because of management disputes. So they're 00:17:17.220 --> 00:17:18.819 just getting passed around. They really are. 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:22.859 Then Air France bought a stake in 1993. And that 00:17:22.859 --> 00:17:25.460 didn't last either. No. Air France had its own 00:17:25.460 --> 00:17:36.789 massive problems at the time. So by 1990... Swiss 00:17:36.789 --> 00:17:40.549 Air. That's what they called them. Yes. Swiss 00:17:40.549 --> 00:17:42.490 Air was considered the most stable, prestigious, 00:17:42.769 --> 00:17:45.190 financially sound airline in Europe. They were 00:17:45.190 --> 00:17:48.809 Swiss. Punctual, rich, efficient. So when Swiss 00:17:48.809 --> 00:17:52.009 Air says, we want to buy 49 % of Sabina and take 00:17:52.009 --> 00:17:54.470 over management, the Belgians must have thought, 00:17:54.509 --> 00:17:58.039 thank God, we are saved. They popped the champagne. 00:17:58.220 --> 00:18:00.119 They thought they had won the lottery. But what 00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:02.099 they didn't realize was that the flying bank 00:18:02.099 --> 00:18:05.059 was actually undergoing a midlife crisis of its 00:18:05.059 --> 00:18:07.380 own. Let's unpack this because this is where 00:18:07.380 --> 00:18:09.799 the business strategy gets really interesting 00:18:09.799 --> 00:18:12.980 and really disastrous. What was Swissair trying 00:18:12.980 --> 00:18:15.259 to do? They had a strategy called the Hunter 00:18:15.259 --> 00:18:19.160 Strategy. That's an ominous name. Very. So Swissair 00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:21.839 was not in the EU. Switzerland is neutral, right? 00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:24.359 So they were worried about being locked out of 00:18:24.359 --> 00:18:27.460 the newly deregulated European aviation market. 00:18:27.660 --> 00:18:29.859 Right. They needed access. They decided that 00:18:29.859 --> 00:18:31.940 since they couldn't just merge easily with an 00:18:31.940 --> 00:18:34.859 EU carrier, they would buy up smaller, struggling 00:18:34.859 --> 00:18:36.980 airlines to create their own alliance, a sort 00:18:36.980 --> 00:18:40.400 of empire by proxy. So they buy Sabina. Who else? 00:18:40.539 --> 00:18:43.519 They bought stakes in LTU in Germany, Air Liberté 00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:47.220 in France, Volar in Italy, LOT in Poland. Yeah. 00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:50.079 A whole collection. Wait, hold on. They are buying 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:52.619 struggling airlines. Yes, that was the core of 00:18:52.619 --> 00:18:54.700 the strategy. That sounds like buying a house 00:18:54.700 --> 00:18:57.759 with a leaking roof, then buying a car with a 00:18:57.759 --> 00:18:59.900 blown engine and thinking, now I have a transportation 00:18:59.900 --> 00:19:02.519 empire. That is exactly what they did. It's one 00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:05.140 of the most infamous business strategies in aviation 00:19:05.140 --> 00:19:07.900 history. They were buying revenue, not profit. 00:19:08.140 --> 00:19:10.160 They thought they could fix these airlines with 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:12.859 Swiss efficiency. And all they did was weigh 00:19:12.859 --> 00:19:15.400 themselves down with debt. Massive debt. And 00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:18.460 for Sabina, this meant what? It meant losing 00:19:18.460 --> 00:19:21.740 control. The Swiss management takes over. The 00:19:21.740 --> 00:19:24.460 Swiss management came in and they were... Let's 00:19:24.460 --> 00:19:26.759 just say arrogant. There was a massive culture 00:19:26.759 --> 00:19:28.839 clash. The Belgians felt like the Swiss looked 00:19:28.839 --> 00:19:31.019 down on them. But the real nail in the coffin 00:19:31.019 --> 00:19:33.900 was the fleet renewal. The 34 Airbuses. Right. 00:19:34.099 --> 00:19:36.960 Swiss Air forced Sabina to place a massive order 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:40.759 for 34 brand new Airbus A320 family aircraft. 00:19:41.079 --> 00:19:43.119 But Sabina had no money. How could they afford 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:45.319 that? Exactly. It was like forcing a minimum 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:48.059 wage worker to lease a fleet of brand new Mercedes. 00:19:48.500 --> 00:19:50.579 It looked great on the tarmac, but the lease 00:19:50.579 --> 00:19:53.000 payments absolutely destroyed Sabina's balance 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:55.750 sheet. The debt skyrocketed. So you have a fragile 00:19:55.750 --> 00:19:58.049 airline loaded with new debt managed by people 00:19:58.049 --> 00:20:00.990 who are overextending themselves across Europe. 00:20:01.250 --> 00:20:05.589 And then 2001. The perfect storm. Even before 00:20:05.589 --> 00:20:07.910 September 11th, the global economy was slowing 00:20:07.910 --> 00:20:10.289 down. The dot -com bubble had burst. Business 00:20:10.289 --> 00:20:13.450 travel was down. And then 9 -11 happens. Transatlantic 00:20:13.450 --> 00:20:15.970 travel basically stops overnight. For everyone. 00:20:16.150 --> 00:20:18.569 It drops to zero and then recovers very, very 00:20:18.569 --> 00:20:22.630 slowly. Sabina is hemorrhaging money. But here 00:20:22.630 --> 00:20:26.390 is the twist. The rich uncle, Swiss Air, they 00:20:26.390 --> 00:20:28.690 are broke too. The hunter's strategy failed. 00:20:29.430 --> 00:20:31.650 Catastrophically. The flying bank was insolvent. 00:20:31.670 --> 00:20:33.809 They had burned through all their cash reserves, 00:20:33.990 --> 00:20:36.029 propping up all these sick airlines they bought. 00:20:36.269 --> 00:20:38.009 So both the parent and the child are dying at 00:20:38.009 --> 00:20:41.670 the same time. Yes. But there was one last desperate 00:20:41.670 --> 00:20:45.009 attempt to save Sabina. The hotel agreement. 00:20:45.410 --> 00:20:47.690 This is legendary in Belgium, right? It is. July 00:20:47.690 --> 00:20:50.960 17, 2001. The Belgian prime minister at the time, 00:20:51.019 --> 00:20:53.039 Guy Verhofstadt, meets the boss of Swissair, 00:20:53.140 --> 00:20:56.160 Mario Corti, at a hotel in Brussels. Why a hotel? 00:20:56.380 --> 00:20:59.259 Neutral ground, secrecy, late -night high -stakes 00:20:59.259 --> 00:21:02.299 negotiations. The pressure was immense. Corti 00:21:02.299 --> 00:21:04.740 agrees to a rescue plan. Swissair signs a legally 00:21:04.740 --> 00:21:08.079 binding contract promising to inject 258 million 00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:11.319 euros into Sabina. That's the lifeline that keeps 00:21:11.319 --> 00:21:14.039 the lights on. It was the only hope. But as the 00:21:14.039 --> 00:21:17.160 weeks went by, the check didn't arrive. They 00:21:17.160 --> 00:21:19.700 ghosted them. Worse. Swissair filed for bankruptcy 00:21:19.700 --> 00:21:22.400 protection themselves in early October 2001. 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:26.380 They grounded their entire own fleet. The world 00:21:26.380 --> 00:21:29.259 watched in shock as Swissair planes were stuck 00:21:29.259 --> 00:21:31.220 on tarmacs because they literally couldn't pay 00:21:31.220 --> 00:21:34.420 for fuel. And if Swissair is grounded, Sabina 00:21:34.420 --> 00:21:37.599 is finished. Sabina never got the money. On October 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:40.400 3rd, Sabina filed for legal protection. And on 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:43.420 November 7, 2001, the inevitable happened. The 00:21:43.420 --> 00:21:45.859 end. November 7 was the last day of operations. 00:21:46.380 --> 00:21:48.460 I want to zoom in on that day because it's just 00:21:48.460 --> 00:21:51.119 incredibly emotional. You have pilots and cabin 00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:53.220 crews flying planes knowing they are unemployed 00:21:53.220 --> 00:21:55.319 the moment they land. There's a specific flight 00:21:55.319 --> 00:21:58.099 rate. Very last one, flight 690. Yes. An Airbus 00:21:58.099 --> 00:22:03.119 A340 registration OOSCZ. It was coming from Abidjan 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:05.970 and Kutunu. An African route. It's fitting, isn't 00:22:05.970 --> 00:22:07.950 it? It started with Africa. It ended with Africa. 00:22:08.109 --> 00:22:10.069 It landed in Brussels in the morning. The pilots 00:22:10.069 --> 00:22:12.089 waved the Belgian flag from the cockpit window. 00:22:12.210 --> 00:22:13.890 The ground staff were all there just crying. 00:22:14.130 --> 00:22:16.529 It wasn't just a company closing. It was a divorce, 00:22:16.690 --> 00:22:19.430 a death in the family. How many people lost their 00:22:19.430 --> 00:22:23.069 jobs? Directly, about 12 ,000. Indirectly, probably 00:22:23.069 --> 00:22:26.839 double that. Catering companies, logistics, maintenance 00:22:26.839 --> 00:22:29.819 firms. It was a social massacre for the region 00:22:29.819 --> 00:22:32.000 around the airport. And the anger directed at 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:33.880 the Swiss must have been nuclear. Oh, it was. 00:22:33.980 --> 00:22:37.119 The Belgian government sued. There were criminal 00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:39.680 investigations that went on for years. And this 00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:42.240 is where the story gets a little bit noir. The 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:45.220 Bermuda connection. Yeah. In the aftermath, investigators 00:22:45.220 --> 00:22:47.640 started looking at the books and years later, 00:22:47.779 --> 00:22:50.099 reports came out allegations that during the 00:22:50.099 --> 00:22:53.359 1990s, certain sums of money were being funneled 00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:56.380 to a Sabina affiliate in Bermuda. A tax haven. 00:22:56.500 --> 00:22:59.000 The classic tax haven. The allegation was that 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:01.259 these were illicit payments to board members. 00:23:01.319 --> 00:23:04.380 As kickbacks. The theory, and I have to stress 00:23:04.380 --> 00:23:07.220 this is a contested theory, is that some people 00:23:07.220 --> 00:23:09.119 at the top were being paid off to look the other 00:23:09.119 --> 00:23:11.299 way while the airline was being exploited or 00:23:11.299 --> 00:23:13.599 stripped of its assets. Corporate looting. Exactly. 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:17.079 Whether it's true or just a story of gross incompetence, 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:19.619 the result was the same. The airline was hollowed 00:23:19.619 --> 00:23:22.059 out. It didn't just die of natural causes. It 00:23:22.059 --> 00:23:24.720 was arguably pushed. It's a bitter. Bitter ending. 00:23:25.160 --> 00:23:27.880 But before we wrap up the history, I feel like 00:23:27.880 --> 00:23:29.460 we need to address something we touched on earlier 00:23:29.460 --> 00:23:32.619 but didn't fully explore. The Hotel Rwanda connection. 00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:36.259 Because Sabina wasn't just planes. No. And this 00:23:36.259 --> 00:23:37.799 brings us back to that infrastructure point. 00:23:38.180 --> 00:23:41.339 Sabina built hotels in the Congo and Rwanda to 00:23:41.339 --> 00:23:43.859 house their crew and passengers. One of them 00:23:43.859 --> 00:23:47.079 was the famous Hotel de Mille Collines in Kigali. 00:23:47.180 --> 00:23:50.059 The hotel from the movie. Yes. The main character 00:23:50.059 --> 00:23:53.019 in that story, Paul Russo -Vagina, was a Sabina 00:23:53.019 --> 00:23:55.900 employee. He was a manager for the Sabina hotel 00:23:55.900 --> 00:23:58.160 chain. I never made that connection. That's incredible. 00:23:58.650 --> 00:24:01.849 In 1994, during the Rwandan genocide, the fact 00:24:01.849 --> 00:24:04.410 that this hotel was Belgian -owned, Sabina -owned, 00:24:04.529 --> 00:24:07.390 gave it a tiny, tiny sliver of diplomatic protection. 00:24:08.210 --> 00:24:11.490 Rusabagina used that and his position to shelter 00:24:11.490 --> 00:24:14.410 over 1 ,200 people. That is profound. It is. 00:24:14.410 --> 00:24:16.910 It just shows how deeply embedded Sabina was 00:24:16.910 --> 00:24:19.529 in the fabric of the region. For better or for 00:24:19.529 --> 00:24:21.829 worse, they were part of the landscape. When 00:24:21.829 --> 00:24:23.990 Sabina disappeared, it wasn't just a flight schedule 00:24:23.990 --> 00:24:26.490 changing. It was a piece of the post -colonial 00:24:26.490 --> 00:24:29.289 infrastructure vanishing. overnight. So Sabine 00:24:29.289 --> 00:24:33.369 is gone. But is it? Because if I go to Brussels 00:24:33.369 --> 00:24:36.609 airport today, I see a lot of blue and red Brussels 00:24:36.609 --> 00:24:40.380 Airlines. The Phoenix. When Sabina collapsed, 00:24:40.680 --> 00:24:42.740 the administrators managed to carve out one healthy 00:24:42.740 --> 00:24:46.119 subsidiary called Delta Air Transport, or DAT. 00:24:46.460 --> 00:24:48.759 Which was their regional flyer. Right. They flew 00:24:48.759 --> 00:24:50.980 smaller planes around Europe, they saved it from 00:24:50.980 --> 00:24:53.680 the wreckage, they rebranded it as SN Brussels 00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:57.359 Airlines, and they kept the SN flight code. Ah, 00:24:57.559 --> 00:24:59.599 so that's why my flight number is still SN when 00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:02.240 I fly with them. It's the ghost of Sabina. Eventually, 00:25:02.279 --> 00:25:04.720 they merged with another carrier, Virgin Express, 00:25:05.079 --> 00:25:07.279 and became Brussels Airlines. And now they're 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:09.259 owned by Lufthansa. Now they're owned by Lufthansa. 00:25:09.700 --> 00:25:12.099 Ironically, the German giant won in the end. 00:25:12.259 --> 00:25:15.759 But the DNA is Sabina. A lot of the pilots, the 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:17.940 culture, and especially the African -focused 00:25:17.940 --> 00:25:20.819 Brussels Airlines is still the number one carrier 00:25:20.819 --> 00:25:23.680 between Europe and Africa. That legacy survived 00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:26.460 the bankruptcy. So let's try to summarize this 00:25:26.460 --> 00:25:28.900 epic. We have a company that started with biplanes 00:25:28.900 --> 00:25:31.579 made of wood and ended with airbuses grounded 00:25:31.579 --> 00:25:33.819 on the tarmac. What is the takeaway for you, 00:25:33.859 --> 00:25:35.819 for the listener? I think there are three big 00:25:35.819 --> 00:25:39.200 lessons here. First, the incredible bravery of 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:42.000 those early years. We shouldn't forget that 51 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:45.259 -day flight. That was human spirit at its absolute 00:25:45.259 --> 00:25:48.900 peak. Agreed. Pure adventure. Second, the danger 00:25:48.900 --> 00:25:51.460 of tying a business model to a political reality. 00:25:52.039 --> 00:25:54.559 Sabina was built for the colony. When the colony 00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:57.059 went away, Sabina never really found a new reason 00:25:57.059 --> 00:25:59.920 to exist. It spent 40 years having an identity 00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:02.740 crisis. It was a solution looking for a problem. 00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:06.059 Perfectly put. And third, the fatal embrace. 00:26:06.539 --> 00:26:10.319 Be so, so careful who you merge with. The Swissaire 00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:12.940 deal is a textbook case study in how not to do 00:26:12.940 --> 00:26:16.579 M &A. It was driven by ego and fear, not by sound 00:26:16.579 --> 00:26:18.750 economics. They tried to buy their way out of 00:26:18.750 --> 00:26:20.750 a strategic problem and they dragged Sabina down 00:26:20.750 --> 00:26:22.809 with them. It really is a tragedy. It's got everything. 00:26:22.910 --> 00:26:25.609 Adventure, politics, innovation, betrayal. And 00:26:25.609 --> 00:26:28.230 pigs. Don't forget the pigs in the DC -3. And 00:26:28.230 --> 00:26:30.849 the pigs. It's a powerful reminder that aviation, 00:26:31.109 --> 00:26:33.529 beneath all the glamour, is a brutal, capital 00:26:33.529 --> 00:26:36.029 -intensive business where even national icons 00:26:36.029 --> 00:26:38.660 are never truly safe. Well, this has been a fascinating 00:26:38.660 --> 00:26:41.400 journey from the jungles of the Congo to the 00:26:41.400 --> 00:26:44.119 boardrooms of Zurich. Thank you for walking us 00:26:44.119 --> 00:26:46.220 through it. My pleasure. It's an incredible story. 00:26:46.460 --> 00:26:49.480 And to our listeners, next time you see an SN 00:26:49.480 --> 00:26:52.940 on a flight board, you'll know the long, complicated 00:26:52.940 --> 00:26:55.420 history behind those two letters. Thanks for 00:26:55.420 --> 00:26:57.819 listening to The Deep Dive. Keep looking up, 00:26:57.839 --> 00:26:59.099 and we'll see you on the next one.