SABENA AIRLINES plans to increase passenger traffic from Russia.

Sabena, Belgium_s national airline, intends this year to increase the number of its passengers traveling from Russia by 5 percent over 1998, said Freddi Levi, Sabena_s regional manager for Central Europe, the CIS and Poland. Mr. Levi said Sabena has introduced new programs for passengers from Russia. A fare structure called the Last Summer Business Bonus of the Century, for example, allows a flier who has bought a business-class ticket for a trans-Atlantic or Africa-bound flight to receive a free ticket to Europe for a friend. Also, the Boeing 737s used on Sabena_s Moscow-Brussels route will be replaced by bigger Airbus A-319s by year_s end. As of July 1, Sabena equipped all its airplanes, including those flying to Russia, with special cardio rehabilitation equipment. Sabena_s current service to and from Russia is limited to Moscow. A round-trip ticket in economy class from the Russian capital to Brussels costs $546; the business class fare is $1,620 (the prices include airport fees). Similar prices on the Moscow-Brussels route are offered by Swissair and Austrian Airlines. In the near future Sabena intends to start flying to St. Petersburg and the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. Sabena was founded in 1998 as part of Qualitlyer Group, consisting of nine European airlines. The airlines of the group carried 56.7 million passengers on 323 routes in 135 countries in its inaugural year. Its turnover is 14 billion euros.