Etienne Davignon, 87, is boarding Brussels Airlines. He will no longer be part of the new board of directors.
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“My job is done after setting up the company and rescuing it twice,” Davignon, who had been no chairman since April, said in an interview with Free.
After Sabena went bankrupt in 2002, Etienne Davignon co-founded SN Brussels with Maurice Lippens, which would become Brussels Airlines three years later. The two then managed to get Belgian investors on board to set up a new airline. Since then, Davignon has been chairman of the company, which has since been bought by Lufthansa.
In April, he stepped aside after 18 years as chairman, but remained a member of the board of directors. While the airline is facing the worst storm in its existence due to the corona crisis, Davignon then passed the torch to Jan Smets earlier than planned. Then it sounded that he was going to support Smets and the management. Smets now heads the board of directors together with Christina Foerster.
Brussels Airlines is in difficult papers due to the corona crisis. The airline will therefore receive a loan of 290 million euros from the Belgian government in exchange for a plethora of German guarantees on future investments..
Count Etienne Davignon is a centipede. He was already a diplomat, CEO of Foreign Affairs, European Commissioner and influential shareholder of football club RSC Anderlecht.
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