a new AOC as SN Brussels Airlines, which later became Brussels Airlines after indeed merging with Virgin Express, today's flag carrier of the country. Destinations In its early years, Delta Air Transport offered up to 4 daily scheduled flights between its then base at Antwerp Airport and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on behalf of KLM (the contract lasted until 1997, when DAT had become a wholly owned Sabena subsidiary), as well as a limited number of routes to the neighboring countries. During the 1990s and early 2000s, DAT was able to grow an extensive short-haul network, as more and more flights were operated on behalf of demising Sabena, eventually becoming the tenth largest regional airline of the continent, transporting more than 1.7 million passengers per year. During its height, the airline had nearly 800 employees, and served the following cities on a scheduled basis from its hub at Brussels Airport: Austria Vienna Bulgaria Sofia Croatia Zagreb Czech Republic Prague Denmark Copenhagen Finland Helsinki France Bordeaux Paris Lyon Marseille Nice Strasbourg Toulouse Germany Berlin Düsseldorf Frankfurt Hamburg Hanover Munich Stuttgart Greece Athens Hungary Budapest Ireland Dublin Italy Bologna Florence Milan Naples Rome Turin Venice Luxemburg Luxembourg The Netherlands Amsterdam Norway Oslo Poland Warsaw Portugal Lisbon Porto Romania Bucharest Spain Barcelona Bilbao Madrid Málaga Seville Valencia Sweden Gothenburg Stockholm Switzerland Basel Geneva Zurich United Kingdom Birmingham Bristol Edinburgh Glasgow Leeds London Manchester Newcastle Fleet Over the years, Delta Air Transport operated the following aircraft types: Accidents and incidents On 4 October 1974 at 20:01 local time, the flight engineer of a DAT Douglas DC-6 (registered OO-VGB) decided to retract the nose gear during take-off run at London Southend Airport even though the aircraft had not yet lifted off, which happened due to a communication error with the pilots. The airplane slid along the runway, during which it was damaged beyond repair. 99 passengers had been on board the flight to Antwerp, one of which was severely injured (another four received minor injuries from evacuating the aircraft). The six crew members remained uninjured. On 2 June 1990 at 19:11 local time, a DAT Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia (registered OO-DTA) without any passengers collided with a Piper Aerostar during a low-pass manoeuvre at Antwerp International Airport, resulting in the crash of the Piper and the death of the four people on board. The two aircraft had been performing a close formation flight for aerial photographs