# SNETA

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Airline in Belgium (1919–1923)

The **National Syndicate for the Study of Aerial Transport** ([French](/source/French_language): ***Syndicat national d'Etude des Transports Aériens***), known by its acronym **SNETA**, was an early airline which operated from 1919 to 1923 in order to pioneer commercial aviation in [Belgium](/source/Belgium). In 1923 it ceased operations and merged into the newly founded national carrier [SABENA](/source/SABENA).

## History

The company was founded on 31 March 1919 by [Georges Nélis](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Georges_N%C3%A9lis&action=edit&redlink=1) with the support of [King Albert I](/source/Albert_I_of_Belgium). It operated from the [airfield](/source/Haren_Airport) at [Haren](/source/Haren%2C_Belgium), near Brussels, and flew to [London](/source/London) ([Hounslow Heath Aerodrome](/source/Hounslow_Heath_Aerodrome) and [Croydon Airport](/source/Croydon_Airport)), [Paris](/source/Paris) ([Paris–Le Bourget Airport](/source/Paris%E2%80%93Le_Bourget_Airport)) and [Amsterdam](/source/Amsterdam) ([Amsterdam Airport Schiphol](/source/Amsterdam_Airport_Schiphol)). Amongst the pilots of SNETA was [Ivan Smirnov](/source/Ivan_Smirnov_(aviator)). Its initial fleet was made up of surplus airplanes from the [First World War](/source/First_World_War). The company used a mix of British, French and German planes. The first nine acquired airplanes were:

- 3 [Breguet 14](/source/Breguet_14)

- 3 [De Havilland Airco DH.9](/source/Airco_DH.9)

- 3 [Rumpler C.IV](/source/Rumpler_C.IV).

Later the company also acquired [Farman F.60 Goliaths](/source/Farman_F.60_Goliath) and [Fokker D.VIIs](/source/Fokker_D.VII).

In 1921, the company started operating in the [Belgian Congo](/source/Belgian_Congo) through its subsidiary **CENAC** (*Comité d' Etude pour la Navigation Aérienne du Congo* and later as [Ligne Aérienne du Roi Albert](/source/Ligne_A%C3%A9rienne_du_Roi_Albert)) flying to [Matadi](/source/Matadi), [Léopoldville](/source/Kinshasa) and [Stanleyville](/source/Kisangani) using the [Lévy-Le Pen](/source/Georges_Levy_G.L.40).

On 27 September 1921, a wooden hangar burned out, destroying seven of SNETA's 23 airplanes.

By 1 June 1922, enough information was gathered and all experimental flights were suspended. This cleared the way to start up a real Belgian commercial operator, SABENA, which came into being on 23 May 1923 and into which SNETA merged.

## Fleet

### Historical fleet

- 3x [Bréguet 14](/source/Br%C3%A9guet_14)

- 6x [Airco de Havilland DH.9](/source/Airco_DH.9)

- 5x [Airco de Havilland DH.4](/source/Airco_DH.4)

- 10x [Rumpler C.IV](/source/Rumpler_C.IV)

- 1x [Luft-Verkehrs Gesellschaft LVG C.IV](/source/LVG_C.II)

- 6x [Luft-Verkehrs Gesellschaft LVG C.VI](/source/LVG_C.VI)

- 6x [Farman F.60 Goliath](/source/Farman_F.60_Goliath)

- 1x [Ansaldo A.300-C](/source/Ansaldo_A.300)

- 6x [Blériot-SPAD S.33](/source/Bl%C3%A9riot-SPAD_S.33)

- Operated by CENAC: 6x Levy-Le Pen flying boats.

## Further reading

- *Airplanes in the history of Sabena*. Aircraft in the history of the big air carriers. Steinebach-Wörthsee (Germany): Luftfahrt-Verlag Walter Zuerl. 1975.

- Vanthemsche, Guy (2000). ["The Birth of Commercial Air Transport in Belgium (1919-1923)"](http://www.persee.fr/doc/rbph_0035-0818_2000_num_78_3_4471?). *[Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire](/source/Revue_Belge_de_Philologie_et_d'Histoire)*. **78** (3): 913–44 – via [Persee.fr](/source/Persee.fr).

## External links

- [Tillo Behaeghe, *Aimé Behaeghe, De eerste piloot in Centraal Afrika*, Hangar Flying, Grimbergen, 2008](http://www.hangarflying.be/files/downloads/ABehaeghe.pdf)

- [Weather & Aviation Page - SNETA](http://www.skystef.be/airlines/sneta.htm)

- [SNETA Timetables and Prices](http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/sneta21.htm)

v t e Airlines of Belgium Scheduled Brussels Airlines TUI fly Belgium Charter Vizion Air Cargo Air Belgium ASL Airlines Belgium Challenge Airlines Defunct Abelag Airways Abelag Aviation ACE Belgium Freighters Air Antwerp Air Belgium (1979–2000) Air Charter Express Belgian International Air Services BelgiumExel BFS International Birdy Airlines Cargo B Airlines CityBird Constellation Airlines DAT Belgian Regional Airline DAT Delta Air Transport DAT Plus Delsey Airlines Delta International EAT European Air Transport EBA EuroBelgian Airlines Frevag Airlines Jetairfly Hawa Air Lamda Jet Meridian Airways Sabena SETA Société d'Etude et de Transports Aériens Sky Service SN Brussels Airlines SNETA Sobelair Sunrise Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium Trans European Airways Unijet VG Airlines Virgin Express VLM Airlines VLM Airlines (Antwerp)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [SNETA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNETA) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNETA?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.