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| Founded | 1946 | |||
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| Hubs | ||||
| Focus cities | ||||
| Frequent flyer program | EuroBonus | |||
| Member lounge | Scandinavian Lounge & Business Lounge | |||
| Alliance | Star Alliance | |||
| Fleet size | 143 | |||
| Destinations | ca 90 | |||
| Company slogan | Service and simplicity. | |||
| Parent company | SAS Group | |||
| Headquarters | Solna, Sweden |
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| Key people | Fritz H. Schur (Chair) Mats Jansson (CEO) |
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| Website | www.flysas.com | |||
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 SAS Group, the airline operates 143 aircraft to 90 destinations in 28 countries. The airline's main hubs are Copenhagen Airport, which is the main European and intercontinental hub, Stockholm-Arlanda Airport and Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. In 2006, SAS carried 25.4 million passengers, making a revenue of SEK 42 billion. This makes it the ninth-largest airline in Europe. SAS' fleet consists of Airbus A319, A321, A330 and A340, Boeing 737 Classic and Next Generation, Bombardier CRJ900, Fokker 50 and McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and MD-87. It is a founding member of the Star Alliance. The company has its head office in Solna, near Stockholm, Sweden.
The airline was founded in 1946 as a consortium to pool Det Danske Luftfartselskab's, Svensk Interkontinental Lufttrafik's and Det Norske Luftfartselskap's transatlantic services. European and domestic cooperation started two years later, and in 1951 the airlines merged to create SAS.
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The airline was founded on 1 August 1946, when Svensk Interkontinental Lufttrafik AB, Det Danske Luftfartselskab A/S and Det Norske Luftfartselskap AS, an airline owned by the swedish Wallenberg family and the flag carriers of Denmark and Norway, formed a partnership to handle the intercontinental air traffic of these three Scandinavian countries.[1] 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.[citation needed]
In 1954, SAS became the first airline in the world to operate a trans-polar route. It was from Copenhagen to Los Angeles, with intermediate stops in Søndre Strømfjord, Greenland and Winnipeg, Canada, and this polar service became popular with Hollywood celebrities and production people travelling to Europe. The route was a publicity coup for the airline, which became well known as a result. Thanks to a price structure, which allowed free transit to other European destinations, this trans-polar route had gained popularity with US tourists throughout the late 1950s. SAS later operated trans-polar routes to Asia's Far East (Japan) via Greenland and Alaska, since the Soviet Union did not grant SAS the right to fly across Siberia and China was closed to overflights at that time.[citation needed]
In 1957, SAS was the first airline to offer "round the world service over the North Pole" via the North Pole shortcut Copenhagen-Anchorage-Tokyo. SAS entered the jet age in 1959 when its first jet aircraft, the Caravelle, entered service. In 1971, SAS put its first Boeing 747 jumbo jet into service.[citation needed]
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 along with Lufthansa, which owns 30% (although as of January 2009 LH will own 80% of the carrier). 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[2] 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.[3]
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 attempted to merge with KLM, Austrian, and the now defunct carrier, Swissair, in a project called Alcazar.[4] 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. The SAS Group’s average number of employees was 15379 in the first quarter of 2009.[5]
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.[citation needed]
SAS has won awards including Airline of the Year and Best International Bonus Promotion.
Scandinavian Airlines has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:
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The Scandinavian Airlines fleet includes the following aircraft (active aircraft as of December 2009):[6][7]
| Aircraft | Total | Passengers (Business/Extra/Economy) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A319-100 | 4 | 141 (0/0/141) | |
| Airbus A321-200 | 8 | 198 (0/0/198) | |
| Airbus A330-300 | 4 | 264 (34/35/195) | |
| Airbus A340-300 | 7 | 245 (46/28/171) | |
| Boeing 737-400 | 4 | 150 (0/0/150) | To be phased out |
| Boeing 737-500 | 10 | 120 (0/0/120) | To be phased out |
| Boeing 737-600 | 28 | 123 (0/0/123) | |
| Boeing 737-700 | 17 | 141 (0/0/141) | |
| Boeing 737-800 | 18 | 186 (0/0/186) | |
| Bombardier CRJ900 | 12 | 88 (0/0/88) | |
| Fokker 50 | 5 | 50 (0/0/50) | To be phased out |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-82 | 20 | 150 (0/0/150) | |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-87 | 6 | 125 (0/0/125) | To be phased out |
| Total: | 143 |
On 28 October 2007, in a move that was described as unique by the Swedish press, the board of directors announced that all 27 Dash 8 Q400 aircraft were to be removed from service due to three landing gear failures.[8]
A press release from SAS said that the company had reached a settlement with Bombardier and Goodrich, whereby the airline would receive SEK one billion as compensation, while SAS would purchase 27 new aircraft, with an option of 24 more. These aircraft will consist of 13 of the CRJ900 Nextgen (10 to SAS and 3 to Estonian Air) and 14 of the updated Q400 Nextgen units (8 to airBaltic and 6 to Widerøe), with 7 additional options. [9][10]
SAS received the first CRJ-900 on December 3 2008, with others soon to follow. They currently have eleven such aircraft, having received the eleventh unit on the 18th of October 2009.[11]
Maintance methods were later criticised, accusing SAS group of cutting corners."Plane crash disaster narrowly avoided." The Copenhagen Post, September 10, 2007. Retrieved: December 6, 2009.
In 2006, SAS Sweden launched a new biometric system for use throughout Sweden. Each passenger's fingerprints are, for security purposes, matched to their respective checked baggage. The new technology will be phased in at all the airports served by SAS, although use of the system is voluntary for passengers. The system has been introduced in Norway.
SAS own program EuroBonus, also earns points on other Star Alliance Frequent flyer programs.
Fly Home Club, for Scandinavians living abroad.
The following locations are SAS Scandinavian, Stockholm, and Business locations:
EuroBonus Gold card members are allowed to use partner clubs, as well as Star Alliance Gold lounges, which offer more clubs in more locations. For partner club information, visit http://www.flysas.com/: [2].
Besides the agreements SAS has with its Star Alliance partners, SAS also has strategic agreements with Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian and United. The agreement includes code sharing and schedule coordination to facilitate improved connections between SAS and its partner airlines. SAS also co-operates with the other airlines in the SAS Group.
SAS has begun code-sharing with Shanghai Airlines, complementing its code-share arrangement with Air China.
The Scandinavian Airlines head office is in Frösundavik, Solna Municipality, Sweden, near Stockholm.[15][16]
The head office was built from 1985 through 1987 by Norwegian Niels Torp Architects. SAS intended to build its head office in the lake Brunnsviken area, near an exit to Stockholm Arlanda Airport. The plans caused controversy since the municipal and regional planners wanted the area to be used for recreation pruposes. The Swedish government was about to sell land in the Brunnsviken area, so SAS took a plot of land, while the beaches and scenic elements of the area were retained. SAS held a competition amongst nine architects to determine who would get to design the head office. Niels Torp won the competition and a 55,000 square metres (590,000 sq ft) complex was built.[17]
The previous SAS head office was located on the grounds of Bromma Airport in Stockholm Municipality.[18]
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