Scandinavian Airlines or SAS, previously Scandinavian Airlines System, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and the largest airline in Scandinavia.
Part of the Scandinavian Airlines System Aktiebolag and headquartered at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport in Sigtuna, Sweden, the airline operates 182 aircraft to 90 destinations. The airline's only intercontinental hub is at Copenhagen-Kastrup Airport. Copenhagen-Kastrup airport is also the largest of three hubs for European routes, with Stockholm-Arlanda Airport and Oslo-Gardermoen International Airport as second and third respectively. Minor hubs also exist at Bergen-Flesland International Airport, Gothenburg-Landvetter Airport, Stavanger-Sola Airport and Trondheim-Værnes.
In 2012, SAS carried 25.9 million passengers, achieving revenues of SEK 36 billion. This makes it the ninth-largest airline in Europe. The SAS fleet consists of Airbus A319, A320, A321, A330 and A340, Boeing 737 Next Generation, and Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft.
The airline was founded in 1946 as a consortium to pool the transatlantic operations of Det Danske Luftfartselskab, Svensk Interkontinental Lufttrafik and Det Norske Luftfartselskap. The consortium was extended to cover European and domestic cooperation two years later. In 1951, all the airlines were merged to create SAS.
SAS is one of the founding members of Star Alliance.
Part of the Scandinavian Airlines System Aktiebolag and headquartered at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport in Sigtuna, Sweden, the airline operates 182 aircraft to 90 destinations. The airline's only intercontinental hub is at Copenhagen-Kastrup Airport. Copenhagen-Kastrup airport is also the largest of three hubs for European routes, with Stockholm-Arlanda Airport and Oslo-Gardermoen International Airport as second and third respectively. Minor hubs also exist at Bergen-Flesland International Airport, Gothenburg-Landvetter Airport, Stavanger-Sola Airport and Trondheim-Værnes.
In 2012, SAS carried 25.9 million passengers, achieving revenues of SEK 36 billion. This makes it the ninth-largest airline in Europe. The SAS fleet consists of Airbus A319, A320, A321, A330 and A340, Boeing 737 Next Generation, and Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft.
The airline was founded in 1946 as a consortium to pool the transatlantic operations of Det Danske Luftfartselskab, Svensk Interkontinental Lufttrafik and Det Norske Luftfartselskap. The consortium was extended to cover European and domestic cooperation two years later. In 1951, all the airlines were merged to create SAS.
SAS is one of the founding members of Star Alliance.
History
Founding
The airline was founded on 1 August 1946, when Svensk Interkontinental Lufttrafik AB (an airline owned by the Swedish Wallenberg family), Det Danske Luftfartselskab A/S and Det Norske Luftfartselskap AS (the flag carriers of Denmark and Norway) formed a partnership to handle the intercontinental air traffic of these three Scandinavian countries. Operations started on 17 September 1946. In 1948 the Swedish flag carrier AB Aerotransport joined SAS and the companies coordinated European operations and finally merged to form the SAS Consortium in 1951. When established, the airline was divided between SAS Danmark (28.6%), SAS Norge (28.6%) and SAS Sverige (42.8%), all owned 50% by private investors and 50% by their governments.
Trans polar route
In 1954, SAS was the first airline to initiate scheduled service over a polar route. The DC-6B flew from Copenhagen to Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. with stops in Søndre Strømfjord, Greenland, and Winnipeg, Canada. By summer 1956, the frequency of this service had increased to three flights per week. It was popular with Hollywood celebrities and film industry people, and the route turned out to be a publicity coup for SAS. Thanks to a tariff structure that allowed free transit to other European destinations via Copenhagen, this trans-polar route gained increasing popularity with American tourists throughout the 1950s. Starting in 1957, SAS initiated service on a second polar route when a DC-7C flew from Copenhagen to Tokyo, Japan, via Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.A.. At that time, the trans-polar service via Alaska was an compromise solution since the Soviet Union would not grant SAS - and other air carriers - permission to fly across Siberia between Europe and Japan, while the airspace of the PR China was also closed to overflights.[citation needed] SAS publicized this service as "round the world service over the North Pole".[citation needed]
Jet Era
SAS entered the jet age in 1959 when the Caravelle entered service. In 1971, SAS put its first Boeing 747 jumbo jet into service.
Acquisition of local airlines
SAS gradually acquired control of the domestic markets in all three countries by acquiring full or partial control of local airlines, including Braathens and Widerøe in Norway, Linjeflyg and Skyways Express in Sweden and Cimber Air in Denmark. In 1989, SAS acquired 18.4% of Texas Air Corporation, parent company of Continental Airlines, in a bid to form a global alliance. This stake was later sold. During the 1990s, SAS also bought a 20% stake in British Midland. SAS bought 95% of Spanair, the second largest airline in Spain, as well as Air Greenland. There are plans to dispose of all of these holdings and an agreement to divest more than 80 percent of the holdings in Spanair was signed with a Catalonian group of investors led by Consorci de Turisme de Barcelona and Catalana d'Inciatives in January 2009.
Star Alliance founding member
SAS was one of the largest DC-9 operators in the world.
In May 1997 SAS formed the global Star Alliance network with Air Canada, Lufthansa, Thai Airways International and United Airlines. Four years earlier SAS unsuccessfully tried to merge with KLM, Star Alliance partner Austrian Airlines, and the now defunct Swissair, in a project called Alcazar. This failure led to the departure the following year of CEO Jan Carlzon, who was credited for the financial turnaround of the company starting in 1981 and who envisioned SAS ownership of multiple airlines worldwide. The ownership structure of SAS was changed in June 2001, with a holding company being created in which the holdings of the governments changed to: Sweden (21.4%), Norway (14.3%) and Denmark (14.3%) and the remaining 50% publicly held and traded on the stock market.
Contemporary history (2004–present)
In 2004 Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) was divided into four companies; SAS Scandinavian Airlines Sverige AB, SAS Scandinavian Airlines Danmark AS, SAS Braathens AS and SAS Scandinavian International AS. SAS Braathens was re-branded SAS Scandinavian Airlines Norge AS in 2007. In October 2009 the four companies were once again united into one company, SAS Scandinavian System AB.
With the coming of low-cost airlines and decreasing fares in Scandinavia the business turned into the red. To be profitable again, the airline had to cut costs. In a first step the airline sold its stakes in other companies, such as bmi, Spanair and AirBaltic, and began to restructure its operations. This was to save costs by about 23 percent between 2008 and 2011. The next big cost-cutting measure followed by the end of 2011. It should generate cost savings of another three to four percent until 2015. In June 2012 the airline announced that they will extend this measure. In November 2012 the company came under heavy pressure from its owners and banks to implement even heavier cost-cutting measures as a condition for continued financial support. Negotiations with the respective trade unions took place for more than a week and exceeded the original deadline, but in the end SAS and the trade unions reached an agreement that would increase the worktime, cutting salary between 12-20%, pension and retirement plans, and thus keep the airline flying. SAS drew some criticism for how they handled the negotiations, in denying facilities to the union delegations. As of November 2013, there was the expectation that the company would show 2013 as its first profitable year since 2007.
Fleet
The Scandinavian Airlines fleet includes the following aircraft (as of April 2014):
Founding
The airline was founded on 1 August 1946, when Svensk Interkontinental Lufttrafik AB (an airline owned by the Swedish Wallenberg family), Det Danske Luftfartselskab A/S and Det Norske Luftfartselskap AS (the flag carriers of Denmark and Norway) formed a partnership to handle the intercontinental air traffic of these three Scandinavian countries. Operations started on 17 September 1946. In 1948 the Swedish flag carrier AB Aerotransport joined SAS and the companies coordinated European operations and finally merged to form the SAS Consortium in 1951. When established, the airline was divided between SAS Danmark (28.6%), SAS Norge (28.6%) and SAS Sverige (42.8%), all owned 50% by private investors and 50% by their governments.
Trans polar route
In 1954, SAS was the first airline to initiate scheduled service over a polar route. The DC-6B flew from Copenhagen to Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. with stops in Søndre Strømfjord, Greenland, and Winnipeg, Canada. By summer 1956, the frequency of this service had increased to three flights per week. It was popular with Hollywood celebrities and film industry people, and the route turned out to be a publicity coup for SAS. Thanks to a tariff structure that allowed free transit to other European destinations via Copenhagen, this trans-polar route gained increasing popularity with American tourists throughout the 1950s. Starting in 1957, SAS initiated service on a second polar route when a DC-7C flew from Copenhagen to Tokyo, Japan, via Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.A.. At that time, the trans-polar service via Alaska was an compromise solution since the Soviet Union would not grant SAS - and other air carriers - permission to fly across Siberia between Europe and Japan, while the airspace of the PR China was also closed to overflights.[citation needed] SAS publicized this service as "round the world service over the North Pole".[citation needed]
Jet Era
SAS entered the jet age in 1959 when the Caravelle entered service. In 1971, SAS put its first Boeing 747 jumbo jet into service.
Acquisition of local airlines
SAS gradually acquired control of the domestic markets in all three countries by acquiring full or partial control of local airlines, including Braathens and Widerøe in Norway, Linjeflyg and Skyways Express in Sweden and Cimber Air in Denmark. In 1989, SAS acquired 18.4% of Texas Air Corporation, parent company of Continental Airlines, in a bid to form a global alliance. This stake was later sold. During the 1990s, SAS also bought a 20% stake in British Midland. SAS bought 95% of Spanair, the second largest airline in Spain, as well as Air Greenland. There are plans to dispose of all of these holdings and an agreement to divest more than 80 percent of the holdings in Spanair was signed with a Catalonian group of investors led by Consorci de Turisme de Barcelona and Catalana d'Inciatives in January 2009.
Star Alliance founding member
SAS was one of the largest DC-9 operators in the world.
In May 1997 SAS formed the global Star Alliance network with Air Canada, Lufthansa, Thai Airways International and United Airlines. Four years earlier SAS unsuccessfully tried to merge with KLM, Star Alliance partner Austrian Airlines, and the now defunct Swissair, in a project called Alcazar. This failure led to the departure the following year of CEO Jan Carlzon, who was credited for the financial turnaround of the company starting in 1981 and who envisioned SAS ownership of multiple airlines worldwide. The ownership structure of SAS was changed in June 2001, with a holding company being created in which the holdings of the governments changed to: Sweden (21.4%), Norway (14.3%) and Denmark (14.3%) and the remaining 50% publicly held and traded on the stock market.
Contemporary history (2004–present)
In 2004 Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) was divided into four companies; SAS Scandinavian Airlines Sverige AB, SAS Scandinavian Airlines Danmark AS, SAS Braathens AS and SAS Scandinavian International AS. SAS Braathens was re-branded SAS Scandinavian Airlines Norge AS in 2007. In October 2009 the four companies were once again united into one company, SAS Scandinavian System AB.
With the coming of low-cost airlines and decreasing fares in Scandinavia the business turned into the red. To be profitable again, the airline had to cut costs. In a first step the airline sold its stakes in other companies, such as bmi, Spanair and AirBaltic, and began to restructure its operations. This was to save costs by about 23 percent between 2008 and 2011. The next big cost-cutting measure followed by the end of 2011. It should generate cost savings of another three to four percent until 2015. In June 2012 the airline announced that they will extend this measure. In November 2012 the company came under heavy pressure from its owners and banks to implement even heavier cost-cutting measures as a condition for continued financial support. Negotiations with the respective trade unions took place for more than a week and exceeded the original deadline, but in the end SAS and the trade unions reached an agreement that would increase the worktime, cutting salary between 12-20%, pension and retirement plans, and thus keep the airline flying. SAS drew some criticism for how they handled the negotiations, in denying facilities to the union delegations. As of November 2013, there was the expectation that the company would show 2013 as its first profitable year since 2007.
Fleet
The Scandinavian Airlines fleet includes the following aircraft (as of April 2014):
Source: Wikipedia
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