EC approves Sabena link with Air France

BRUSSELS (Reuter) - The European Commission has approved an alliance between Air France and Sabena of Belgium but struck a deal to stop them dominating European aviation.

In return for quick approval, the Commission said it had wrung pledges from the airlines and their government masters that rivals would not be shut out on routes from the strategic Brussels Zaventem airport to parts of France, Africa and Europe.

The EC approval removes the last block to a business partnership signed last April after Air France bought a 37.58 per cent stake in Sabena. The Commission had earlier given the green light for big state capital injections into both carriers.

The airlines and their governments have promised to give rival carriers at least 25 per cent of all aircraft parking space at Zaventem, Sabena's home base, at any hour of the day.

On several specific routes where Sabena and Air France would have largely cornered the market, the accord with the Commission stipulates that one of them must pull out if another EC airline decides to offer a competing service.