Airline Profile: Scandinavian Airlines

The multinational airline for Norway, Denmark and Sweden, SAS serves almost 100 destinations in more than 33 countries.

A restructuring programme whereby SAS will concentrate on its core business and sell off non-core activities was announced in June 2007.

History

Scandinavian Airlines System, SAS, was founded as the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, through a merger between the existing national flag carriers of the three countries. These were Det Danske Luftfartselskab AB/ DDL in Denmark, Det Norske Luftfartselskab/DNL in Norway and Akitiebolaget Aerotransport/ABA in Sweden. The new combined carrier took on strength the more modern aircraft operated by its antecedents and offered air services within, to and from Scandinavia.

The consortium which owned the airline was made up of SAS Danmark A/S, SAS Norge ASA (each with a 28.6 per cent stake) and SAS Sverige AB (42.8 per cent). These parent companies were jointly owned on a fifty-fifty basis by private investors and their respective national governments.

In December 1986 Spanish carrier Spanair was established as a joint venture between SAS and Teinver SA, launching charter services in March 1998.

On 24 September 1989, a new subsidiary, SAS Commuter, was established to operate scheduled services supporting mainline flights in Scandinavia and Northern Europe.

On 14 May 1997, SAS was one of the founding carriers, with Air Canada, Lufthansa, Thai and United Airlines of the Star Alliance global airline network.

In November 1997, SAS announced the acquisition of a 29 per cent stake in Norwegian regional airline Wideroe Flyveselskap, which was increased to 63.2 per cent in December 1998.

SAS acquired Finnish regional carrier Air Botnia (later re-branded as Blue1) in January 1998, later that year SAS also increased its stake in Air Baltic to just over 38 per cent following the acquisition of 9.66 per cent from Baltic International USA.

The ownership structure of SAS was changed in June 2001, with the creation of a holding company, SAS AB, in which the governments of Denmark, Norway and Sweden held 14.3 per cent, 14.3 per cent and 21.4 per cent, respectively. The remaining 50 per cent of SAS AB is publicly held and traded on the stock exchange.

SAS acquired Norwegian carrier Braathens in December 2001.

In 2002 SAS joined with Lufthansa Cargo and Singapore Airlines Cargo to form the WOW cargo alliance.

During 2003, SAS was divided into regional bases in Denmark, Norway and Sweden with the aim reducing costs and increasing efficiency. In March 2003, increasing competition from the emerging low-cost airlines led SAS to launch its own low-fare concept: “snowflake” on several European routes. Snowflake evolved into a ‘fare brand’ which was offered on SAS European mainline services and thus disappeared as a stand-alone carrier during 2004.

In 2004 SAS was divided into three independent airlines in Denmark (Scandinavian Airlines Danmark), Norway (initially retaining the Braathens brand ) and Sweden (Scandinavian Airlines Sverige). In addition, a fourth, separate airline, SAS International, was formed to operate all intercontinental services from all three countries. In March 2004 the SAS Group announced the launch a new low-cost carrier, SAS Braathens, which would compete against European budget airlines, serving 41 destinations across Europe.

On 20 September 2004 SAS Commuter ceased operations and its services were integrated within Scandinavian's Danish and Swedish operations.

On 1 June 2007, SAS Braathens was rebranded as SAS Scandinavian Airlines Norge also known as "SAS Norge".

On 13 June 2007, the SAS Board announced its intention to concentrate on its core activities and to operate only where it was strongest. Under this strategy. The core businesses operated by Scandinavian Airlines Danmark, Norge, Sverige and International, and those of Blue 1, Wideroe, Air Baltic and Estonian Air would continue, whereas holdings in non-core units, including Air Greenland, bmi and Spanair were to be disposed of. Other non-core business units, such as SAS Ground Services (SGS), SAS Technical Services (STS) and Spirit, were also to be evaluated to determine which should be retained and which sold off.

Although the sale of Spanair was apparently cancelled twelve months later, the plan was revived in early 2009. On 31 January 2009 SAS sold a majority shareholding in Spanair to Barcelona-based venture capital company Catalana d'Inciatives, for a nominal 1 Euro (US $1.30). SAS retained a minority shareholding in the carrier.

Fleet

• 12x Airbus A320 Family
• 4x Airbus A330
• 7x Airbus A340
• 21x Boeing 737
• 3x Bombardier CRJ900
• 4x Boeing MD-81
• 34x Boeing MD-82
• 6x Boeing MD-87

For real-time air transport updates, subscribe to Air Transport Intelligence

For comprehensive fleet data, subscribe to ACAS

For indepth airline analysis, subscribe to Airline Business