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Founded | 1946 | |||
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Hubs | ||||
Focus cities | ||||
Frequent-flyer program | EuroBonus | |||
Airport lounge | Scandinavian Lounge & Business Lounge | |||
Alliance | Star Alliance | |||
Fleet size | 137 (+47 on order) | |||
Destinations | ~ 90 | |||
Company slogan | Service and simplicity. | |||
Parent company | SAS Group | |||
Headquarters | Scandinavian Airlines head office Solna, Sweden |
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Key people | ||||
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 and headquartered in the Scandinavian Airlines head office at the Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN), Sweden, the airline operates 198 aircraft to 176 destinations in more than 30 countries. The airline's main hub is Kastrup or Copenhagen Airport, which is the main European and intercontinental hub. Somewhat smaller hubs (whithout transfer check-ins facilities and fewer destinations) also exist at Oslo Airport, Gardermoen and Stockholm-Arlanda Airport.
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, McDonnell Douglas MD-82 and MD-87. It is a founding member of the Star Alliance. The company has its head office in Arlanda, 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 (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.[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.
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.
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.
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.
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.[5] In October 2009 the four companies were once again united into one company, SAS Scandinavian System AB.
The Scandinavian Airlines head office is now located at Arlanda Airport, but was until spring 2011 located in Frösundavik, Solna Municipality, Sweden, near Stockholm.[6][7]
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 purposes. 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-metre (590,000 sq ft) complex was built.[8]
The previous SAS head office was located on the grounds of Bromma Airport in Stockholm Municipality.[9]
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 key trends for Scandinavian Airlines (which includes SAS Cargo, SAS Ground Handling and SAS Tech) over recent years are shown below (as at year ending 31 December)[10]:
2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
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Turnover (SEKm) | 47,536 | 39,696 | 35,676 | ||||||
Profits (EBT) (SEKm) | -188 | -1,522 | 806 | ||||||
Number of employees (average for year) | 16,286 | 14,438 | 12,883 | ||||||
Number of passengers (m) | 21.4 | 21.5 | |||||||
Passenger load factor (%) | 71.6 | 75.2 | |||||||
Number of aircraft (at year end) | 181 | 172 | 159 |
Scandinavian Airlines has codeshare agreements with the following airlines, * indicate as Star Alliance:
The Scandinavian Airlines fleet includes the following aircraft (active aircraft as of December 9, 2011):[13][14]
Aircraft | Total | Orders | Passengers | Notes | |||
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C | K | Y |
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Airbus A319-100 | 4 | — | 0 | 0 | 141 | 141 | OY-KBO painted in retro livery |
Airbus A320 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 168 | 168 | Leased until delivery of Airbus A320neo |
Airbus A320neo | 0 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | TBA | delivery from 2016 (11 Options) |
Airbus A321-200 | 8 | — | 0 | 0 | 198 | 198 | |
Airbus A330-300 | 4 | — | 34 | 35 | 195 | 264 | SE-REF painted in Star Alliance livery |
Airbus A340-300 | 6 | — | 46 | 28 | 171 | 245 | OY-KBM leased to Hi Fly |
Boeing 737-400 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | 150 | 150 | To be phased out |
Boeing 737-500 | 7 | — | 0 | 0 | 120 | 120 | To be phased out LN-BUD in hybrid livery |
Boeing 737-600 | 28 | — | 0 | 0 | 123 | 123 | |
Boeing 737-700 | 19 | 12[15] | 0 | 0 | 141 | 141 | |
Boeing 737-800 | 20 | 5[15] | 0 | 0 | 150 179 186 |
150 179 186 |
LN-RRL painted in Star Alliance livery LN-RPO and LN-RPR in hybrid livery |
Bombardier CRJ900 NextGen | 12 | — | 0 | 0 | 88 | 88 | |
McDonnell Douglas MD-82 | 23 | — | 0 | 0 | 150 | 150 | To be phased out Three painted in Star Alliance livery 13 to be sold to Allegiant Air[16] |
McDonnell Douglas MD-87 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | 125 | 125 | To be phased out SE-DIB painted in Star Alliance livery SE-DMK in hybird livery |
Total | 137 | 47 |
SAS has earlier stated that they plan to buy up to 55 new narrow-body aircraft to replace its McDonnell Douglas MD-80s and Boeing 737 Classics. But as a revised plan they will replace 9 McDonnell Douglas MD-80s and 11 Boeing 737 Classics with 17 leased Boeing 737 Next Generations. 17 McDonnell Douglas MD-80s will later be replaced by Airbus A320s.[17]
On June 20th 2011, SAS announced an order for 30 new A320 next generation aircraft as part of its fleet harmonisation plan. SAS has earlier announced that the fleet will be harmonized. Its short range aircraft will consist of two types from 2015: Airbus A320 family at the base in Copenhagen and Boeing 737NG at the bases in Stockholm and Oslo.
As part of the transition, all the MD80s in Copenhagen will be replaced by leased Airbus A320 and be completed by the end of 2014 which in turn will be replaced as from 2016 by the now 30 ordered Airbus A320neo. Airbus A320 is very attractive in the market and the SAS Group expects to finance the aircraft through a combination of leasing and loans.
All the MD80s at the base in Stockholm will be replaced by leased Boeing 737NGs, which will be completed during 2013. Finally all the Boeing 737 Classics at the base in Oslo will be replaced by Boeing 737NGs and this will be completed by the end of 2014.
In September 2007, two separate incidents of similar landing gear failures occurred within four days of each other on SAS Dash 8-Q400 aircraft. A third incident occurred in October 2007. 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.[18]
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.[19][20]
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.[21]
SAS sold its original Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 fleet to Philippine Airlines for operation with subsidiary PAL Express,and also to Malev Hungarian Airlines.
In November 2007, it was revealed that Swedish Civil Aviation Authority began an investigation and accused Scandinavian Airlines System of cutting corners for maintenance. The airline reportedly made 2,300 flights in which safety equipment was not up to standard.[22]
The following locations are SAS Scandinavian, Stockholm, and Business locations:
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's frequent-flyer program is called EuroBonus. Members also earn points on other Star Alliance flights.
Fly Home Club is SAS's membership club for Scandinavians living in Spain.
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