Court throws doubt on successor to Belgian airline

Efforts to develop a successor to Belgium’s failed national airline were thrown into doubt on Wednesday when a commercial court refused to extend bankruptcy protection to Sabena’s former in-house bank.

Investors had hoped the court in Brussels would extend protection for Sabena Interservice Centre under a plan to erase the €109m owed to it by Delta Air Transport.

The agreement would have seen the bank’s creditors waive around half the debt and swap the remainder for a stake in the airline.

DAT is a former Sabena subsidiary which the government and a group of private investors want to develop as a successor to the national carrier declared bankrupt last month.

DAT has been in talks with Brussels-based rival Virgin Express on a possible commercial cooperation agreement, but Virgin denied newspaper reports this week that a merger is imminent.

A €200m private investment plan announced last week to keep DAT flying had been dependent on SIC dropping the debt.

‘‘This is very bad news because one of the conditions made by DAT investors has not been met,’’ said Marc Vandemeulebroeke, a lawyer for one of SIC’s creditors, Societe General.

Finding fresh funds for DAT Delta Air Transport will be a struggle, despite the full backing of the government, which was Sabena’s major shareholder, and the lobbying of two of the country’s most renowned captains of industry.

Bankers Etienne Davignon and Maurice Lippens have said they need to raise at least €300m to keep DAT in business and had counted on SIC to provide a third of that.

Speaking before the court ruling, Mr Davignon told reporters that if SIC was declared bankrupt he would go to the bank’s administrators to seek an elimination of the debt.

‘‘The administrators of SIC would have exactly the same interest as the investors in not adding the bankruptcy of DAT to the bankruptcy of SIC,’’ he said.

Lawyer Vandemeulebroeke said there was still a chance to keep the investment plan, and DAT, alive. ‘‘It’s not the end of the story,’’ he said.

If DAT was forced to fold, it would likely entail the loss of another 6,000 jobs on top of the 7,000 already scrapped when Sabena collapsed.