Braathens

Braathens ASA, until 1997 Braathens South American & Far East Airtransport A/S and trading as Braathens SAFE, is a former Norwegian airline that operated from 1946 until it merged with Scandinavian Airlines Norway to become SAS Braathens in 2004. The airline was based in Oslo, first at Fornebu, later at Gardermoen. It was for most of its life Norway's largest domestic airline.

The airline was founded in 1946 by Ludvig G. Braathen, to provide charter services to South America and the Far East to serve the Braathen Family's shipping operations. During the 1950s, the company changed to become predominantly a domestic airline, supplemented from the 1960s with charter flights to the Mediterranean. Braathens used various Douglas, de Havilland and Fokker aircraft until 1969, when the Boeing 737 was taken into service. The company was owned by the Braathens family until 1994, when it became listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Braathens SAFE enjoyed a domestic duopoly, with regulated routes until 1994. In 1997, the Best/Back concept was introduced, along with a cooperation with KLM. With the price war following the 1998 establishment of Color Air, Braathens was weighted with financial problems until the 2004 take-over by SAS. It then operated twenty-six 737s.

History

Far East

The airline was founded on 26 March 1946 by Norwegian shipping line proprietor Ludvig G. Braathen with the intention of serving his ships in other parts of the world. It began operating charter routes to the Far East and South America using US Air Force surplus Douglas C-54 piston-engined airliners. The maiden commercial flight took to the air on 30 January 1947.

Initially, flights operated during the day only, necessitating several overnight stops for both passengers and crew. The route flown was Oslo–(Stavanger)–Amsterdam–Marseille–Cairo–Basra–Karachi–Calcutta–Bangkok–Hong Kong. The only contemporary regular Europe–Far East scheduled service was BOAC's sea plane operation. Later the same year, Braathens SAFE supplemented its C-54s with Douglas DC-3s. Braathens SAFE operated 75 flights to Hong Kong between 1947 and 1948.

Among Norway's contemporary airlines, Det Norske Luftfartsselskap (DNL, later SAS) had a monopoly on all international scheduled air routes from Norway. Braathens SAFE's flights from Norway to the Far East were so regular that Norwegian authorities claimed them to be scheduled and forced the airline to apply for a scheduled license. Braathens threatened to register abroad. As a result, it was licensed to serve Hong Kong in 1949, for a duration of five years. Braathens SAFE also flew to both Venezuela and Panama in 1948, but failed to get "clean" licenses, as a result of which it did not commence regular flights.

When Scandinavian Airlines System was established in 1951, it was given a monopoly on all international scheduled routes within as well as from and to Scandinavia. As a result of a ten-year agreement with Icelandic airline Loftleidir, Braathens SAFE managed to circumvent these restrictions, and was able to operate its C-54/DC-4s on regular routes from Europe to the United States via Iceland, using an Icelandic operating permit.

SAFE goes domestic

When Braathens SAFE applied to renew its license for the Far Eastern route in 1954, it was turned down. As a result, Braathens SAFE was forced to refocus itself as a successful domestic-only airline. Braathens was granted several licenses to operate scheduled services on a number of domestic routes. Although SAS was initially granted a monopoly on all Norwegian domestic routes (as a result of the Norwegian government's ownership of 1/7 of SAS' stock), other Norwegian airlines could apply for routes that SAS chose not to operate. This resulted in Braathens SAFE getting a fair number of licenses, amongst others to Stavanger and Trondheim.

The first domestic route flown by the airline was Oslo–Tønsberg–Stavanger with De Havilland DH.114 Heron piston-engined commuter aircraft, the first of which was delivered on 3 May 1952. In 1953 the airline got permission to fly temporarily to Trondheim, and in 1956 permanently, two routes that the airline continued to operated until its amalgamation with SAS. Subsequently, Røros (1953) and Kristiansand (1955) were added to Braathens' scheduled domestic network.

In 1956, the airline obtained an exclusive license to serve Kristiansand–Stavanger–Bergen and Oslo–Ålesund (from 1958). SAS was also allowed to fly Oslo–Trondheim and Oslo–Stavanger while given monopoly rights from Trondheim to Northern Norway and Oslo–Bergen. This arrangement was kept in place until the award of a licence to Braathens to fly between Western Norway and Northern Norway from 1967.

On 20 December 1958 the airline received its first Fokker F-27 Friendship turboprop; by 1959 all Herons were replaced by Friendships. The airline also purchased larger, pressurized Douglas DC-6 piston-engined airliners for its charter operations. The charter market grew considerably in Norway during the 1960s and -70s, flying Norwegians to warmer Mediterranean climates.

Into the Jet Age

Braathens ordered its first jet aircraft, the Boeing 737-200, in 1965. Originally, the airline had planned to order Boeing 737-100s, but instead ordered Fokker F-28 Fellowships. Both jet types were delivered in 1969. The two 737s were at first operating charter flights only, while the four F-28s began to replace the F-27s on scheduled domestic routes.

Kristiansund Airport, Kvernberget airport opened in 1970, with Braathens SAFE licensed as the new airport's first scheduled operator. Two years later, in 1972, Braathens also started flying to the new Molde Airport, Årø. Stavanger–Haugesund–Bergen was added in 1974. The same year Braathens SAFE started using an electronic reservation system.

1971 marked the beginning of Norway's oil exploration. Stavanger became the country's oil capital. To provide logistical support to the petroleum industry, Braathens SAFE set up its own helicopter subsidiary, Braathens Helikopter. It later sold its helicopter unit to its main competitor, Helikopter Service.

In 1984 Braathens took delivery of two Boeing 767-200 wide-body jets, featuring 242 seats in a single-class configuration. The airline's new wide-bodies mainly operated international charter flights. However, these aircraft proved to be too big for most of the airline's operations, and were sold in 1986 (along with the Fokker F-28s). The sale of these aircraft gave Braathens SAFE a standardized fleet for the first time in its history. At the same time, the airline ordered 31 new Boeing 737-400s and -500s. The airline immediately sold all but two of the original 737-200s and leased them back, thereby taking advantage of the high prices that could be obtained for well-maintained second-hand aircraft that were in great demand at the time. The airline even managed to sell some of the new 737s for more than it had paid for these aircraft. By 1994 the last 737-200s had left the fleet.

Deregulation

Deregulation of the Norwegian airline market began in 1987 when Braathens SAFE was allowed to fly Oslo–Bergen, Oslo–Trondheim–Bodø and Tromsø–Svalbard, while SAS was given full access to Oslo–Stavanger and Oslo–Trondheim. In 1989 Braathens SAFE was once again permitted to fly international routes, resulting in the inauguration of its first fully fledged international scheduled service from Oslo to Billund. Additional international scheduled services were launched from Oslo / Bergen / Stavanger to Newcastle as well as from Tromsø to Murmansk. Within two weeks in October 1992, Norway Airlines went bankrupt and Dan-Air, the incumbent British scheduled operator on the London Gatwick–Oslo route as well as a long-standing interline partner of Braathens,^[1] was acquired by British Airways in a last-minute rescue deal for a symbolic £1. However, Dan-Air's new owner decided to end all scheduled services between Gatwick and Oslo. With only eleven days' notice Braathens SAFE replaced the services Norway Airlines and Dan-Air had previously provided on that route.

The same year, on 1 April, the Norwegian domestic market was deregulated, and any Norwegian or European airline was free to fly any domestic or international route within as well as from and to Norway. While SAS had advocated this for some time, Braathens SAFE's management had tried to delay deregulation until 1997, to buy the company more time to overcome its temporary financial crisis caused by borrowing huge amounts of money to finance the acquisition of a large number of brand-new 737s.

Greater access to capital through a initial public offering was part of the company's solution to its financial problems. The airline's parent company, Braathen family owned shipping company Ludvig G. Braathens Rederi A/S, contributed NOK 100 million while others invested NOK 300 million. The primary distribution gave the Braathen family ownership of 68% of the firm's capital. The company was then listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. At the same time, Braathens Helikopter was sold to Helikopter Service for NOK 225 million.

Following deregulation, Braathens SAFE began flying from Oslo to Bodø, Harstad/Narvik and Tromsø in Northern Norway. In return, SAS started flying between Bergen and Stavanger. Deregulation resulted in increased flight frequencies on most internal Norwegian air routes.

SAFE becomes Back

1997 was the year the airline adopted a new strategy. The previous year, Braathens SAFE had bought the Swedish airline Transwede, and in 1998 fellow-Swedish carrier Malmö Aviation. The three airlines were merged. In 1997, the company changed its name and identity. The "new" Braathens dropped the long-established SAFE suffix from its name—simply calling itself Braathens—in both Norway and Sweden. A new, predominantly dark blue aircraft livery was launched, replacing the previous livery the airline had been using with only minor variations since its inception in 1946. The company's new logo, a stylized silver-gray wing, replaced the Norwegian flag on aircraft tailplanes. This was the first livery in the airline's history not to feature the national flag. The launch of several new commercial products was part of the airline's new strategy as well.

The same year KLM Royal Dutch Airlines bought a 30% stake from the Braathen family. This resulted in Braathens becoming part of the KLM-Northwest alliance. Braathens took over KLM's routes from Amsterdam to Norway. These routes mainly carried intercontinental transfer passengers who were changing flights at the Dutch flag carrier's Amsterdam Schiphol hub. Northwest Airlines also started flying to Oslo from its hub at Minneapolis. The resulting partially integrated network was marketed displaying the respective logos of KLM, Braathens and Malmö Aviation side-by-side on printed flight schedules, network maps, etc.

The most controversial bit of Braathen's new identity was the Braathens Best and Braathens Back concept. Prior to Braathens' makeover, neither it nor SAS had offered a separate business class cabin on domestic flights in Norway. Traditionally, Braathens' restricted discount fares had compelled ticket-holders to comply with the so-called "Saturday night" rule, i.e. forcing these passengers to stay over a weekend. The "Saturday night" rule was designed to help the airline ensure that all same-day-return travelers needed to pay the much higher, published fares. Now, under the new Braathens Best/Back concept, it had decided to seat all discount passengers in a separate cabin at the back of the aircraft—Braathens Back, while all full-fare ticket holders were accommodated in the Braathens Best section at the front of the plane. Back was a no-frills product with a narrower seat pitch (compared with the full-service Best product). The unintended consequence of Braathens' new commercial concept was that more and more passengers were buying discounted Back tickets. This in turn resulted in the curtain divider separating the two cabins steadily moving forward to accommodate a continually expanding number of discount travelers in the invariably packed Back section, while seat occupancy in the ever smaller, full-fare Best section declined continuously.

A significant number of Back travelers were students, who frequently complained that the fares they had paid were often the same as rival SAS's lowest fares, and that unlike Braathens, SAS did not charge for the in-flight catering.^[2] The Tromsø branch of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, urged passengers to avoid Braathens. There were reports of messy boarding procedures and Braathens flight attendants finding the task of moving passengers into the Back cabin behind the curtain unpleasant, as a result of which many of them wanted to leave Braathens and join SAS instead.^[3] Per Morten Schiefloe, professor of sociology, believed Braathens got "the worst of both worlds" by gaining few new passengers in the full-fare Best cabin and losing a significant number of Back discount-travelers, who resented being treated as inferior "second class" citizens.^[4]

The fall of Braathens

Ultimately, the Best/Back strategy failed, primarily because of the huge revenue loss Braathens suffered, as a result of losing many low-fare passengers to arch rival SAS and significant numbers of loyal, full-fare customers availing themselves of unrestricted, deeply discounted Back fares. The launch in 1998 of Color Air, Norway's first completely no frills, low-cost carrier, resulted in a vicious price war between the country's three established domestic airlines, i.e. Braathens, SAS and Widerøe—a regional domestic carrier Braathens co-owned with SAS—on one hand and the newcomer on the other. Within thirteen months, the ruinous price war had claimed its first victim. Color Air ceased trading during 1999. Braathens suffered as well, but managed to survive. Although SAS lost money too, the large profits its international as well as its Danish and Swedish operations generated enabled it to cross-subsidize the losses incurred in the Norwegian domestic market.

Braathens never recovered from this price war. The airline's decline coincided with the air travel market's general decline. In 2002 the SAS Group purchased the ailing airline. On 1 April 2004, Scandinavian Airlines Norway and Braathens were merged into SAS Braathens. This development provided the impetus for Norwegian Air Shuttle, a former Braathens subcontractor which had supplied the Fokker 50 turboprops that were operating on Braathens' west coast routes, to transform itself into a low-cost, no frills airline adopting the Norwegian brand. Norwegian's launch was supported by a number of leased Boeing 737-300s.

As of 2007, the Braathen family still owns Swedish regional carrier Malmö Aviation. It was not included in Braathens' sale to SAS and therefore did not form part of the subsequently renamed SAS Braathens. In April 2007 SAS announced that it intended to fully absorb Braathens into its mainline Norwegian operation, as a result of which the Braathens name was to disappear for good.

Fleet

The airline operated 118 aircraft of 15 different models. The airline has operated at least three models each from Douglas, Fokker and Boeing, in addition to the de Havilland Heron and British Aerospace 146. The airline's most-operated aircraft is the Boeing 737-200, of which it had 20. Braathens has operated five variants of the 737, totaling 64 aircraft.^[6][7] Two aircraft have been involved in hull-loss accidents.^[8]

From the beginning, all Braathens' aircraft livery had a thick red and thinner white and blue cheatline, with the Flag of Norway on the vertical stabilizer.^[9] With only slight modifications, this general concept was continued all the way including the 737 Classics.^[10] From 1998, Braathens SAFE changed its brand name to Braathens, and changed its corporate identity and livery, using a stylized grey wing as its logo. With the delivery of the 737-700, and consequently repainted older aircraft, received a blue bottom, no cheatline, and a blue vertical stabilizer with the stylized wing.^[11] The livery was changed again in 1999, when the design of the vertical stabilizers was changed and replaced with the Flag of Norway.^[12][13] Only some of the Douglas aircraft were named, and those that were, were called "Norse" followed by a description, such as Norse Commander and Norse Skyfarer. The Heron aircraft were given common Norwegian male names: Per, Ola, Pål and Lars. Starting with the three last F-27s, Braathens started naming their aircraft for kings of Norway. From the delivery of the F-28s and 737s, all aircraft were thus named. Once aircraft were retired, the names were often reused on new aircraft.^[6]

The following is a list of aircraft operated by Braathens. The list excludes aircraft which were owned, but never operated by, Braathens, and aircraft which were never delivered, even though they were given registration codes.^[14][15] The list consists of an image, the manufacturer, the model, the total number of aircraft operated by the airline (although the peak number operated may be lower), the year the model was first introduced, the year the last aircraft was taken out of service, and a description of the aircraft's use.

Destinations

During its operations, the airline has served 53 airports serving 50 cities. Of these, 25 airports serving 23 cities were in Norway and 6 destinations and cities in Sweden. Braathens had provided international services to 23 airports serving 24 cities in 18 counties. Seven of these cities are in Asia, the rest in Europe. In addition, Braathens has served numerous destinations as both regular and ad-hoc charter. Braathens' main hubs were Oslo Airport, Fornebu (1949–98), Oslo Airport, Gardermoen (1998–2007) and Stockholm-Arlanda Airport (1997–99). The main technical base was at Stavanger Airport, Sola.

Service

Prior to 1998, Braathens had a one-class service. The service included a complimentary meal. Discounted tickets were available with restrictions. Starting 23 March 1998, the airline changed its corporate identify to 'Braathens' and introduced a two-class system onboard its planes. Passengers paying full price were seated in the 'Best' category at the front of the plane. About 70% of the plane was in the Best category, which was located at the front of the plane. Customers flying on this service received complimentary coffee and meals with non-disposable cutlery, free newspapers and a better seat pitch. Behind the curtain was the 'Back' category, which had no in-flight meals or newspapers and a smaller pitch. However, a meal with coffee and soft drink could be purchased for NOK 45. Back tickets were sold with a discount, but had to be bought at least seven days before travel, and the traveller had to be away over a weekend. Best Super was even cheaper, but had to be ordered at least 14 days in advance and flights on Sundays were not permitted. For Best tickets, there were also some discounted tickets, but these never cost as little as the Back tickets.^[16][17]

Braathens launched its frequent flyer program as Bracard in 1985,^[18] and rebranded it as Wings in 1999. The membership had three tiers: gold, silver and blue.^[19] Until 1997, Braathens had agreements with Finnair and British Airways, where Bracard members received miles on the partners flights. After the partnership with KLM was introduced, Wings-members received miles with KLM, Northwest Airlines, Continental Airlines and Alitalia.^[20]

Accidents and incidents

• On 7 November 1956, Heron LN-SUR Lars crashed in Hummelfjell after it started to ice. Named the Hummelfjell Accident, the captain and one passenger were killed.^[21]

• On 23 December 1972, Braathens suffered a fatal accident when Flight 239 crashed while approaching Fornebu airport, killing 40 people. The aircraft was a Fokker F-28, LN-SUY Sverre Sigurdsson. At the time this was the worst aircraft accident in Norway.^[22][23]

• On 21 June 1985, LN-SUG Harald Gille Flight 139 was hijacked en route from Trondheim to Oslo, with the hijacker demanding to make a political statement. No-one was injured during the incident after the hijacker exchanged his gun for beer.^[24][25][26]

References

Bibliography

• Tjomsland, Audun and Wilsberg, Kjell (1995). Braathens SAFE 50 år: Mot alle odds. Oslo. ISBN 82-990400-1-9. 

Notes

External links

Official site at the Wayback Machine