TheNational Syndicate for the Study of Aerial Transport (French:Syndicat national d'Etude des Transports Aériens), known by its acronymSNETA, was an early airline which operated from 1919 to 1923 in order to pioneer commercial aviation inBelgium. In 1923 it ceased operations and merged into the newly founded national carrierSABENA.
The company was founded on 31 March 1919 byGeorges Nélis with the support ofKing Albert I. It operated from theairfield atHaren, near Brussels, and flew toLondon (Hounslow Heath Aerodrome andCroydon Airport),Paris (Paris–Le Bourget Airport) andAmsterdam (Amsterdam Airport Schiphol). Amongst the pilots of SNETA wasIvan Smirnov. Its initial fleet was made up of surplus airplanes from theFirst World War. The company used a mix of British, French and German planes. The first nine acquired airplanes were:
Later the company also acquiredFarman F.60 Goliaths andFokker D.VIIs.
In 1921, the company started operating in theBelgian Congo through its subsidiaryCENAC (Comité d' Etude pour la Navigation Aérienne du Congo and later asLigne Aérienne du Roi Albert) flying toMatadi,Léopoldville andStanleyville using theLévy-Le Pen.
On 27 September 1921, a wooden hangar burned out, destroying 7 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.
