SAS Scandinavian Airlines

SAS Scandinavian Airlines AB
IATA code :	SK
ICAO code :	SAS
Call sign :	SCANDINAVIAN
Founding:	1946
Seat:	Stockholm , Sweden
Turnstile :	Copenhagen Kastrup Oslo-Gardermoen Stockholm / Arlanda
Home airport :	Copenhagen Kastrup
Company form:	FROM
IATA prefix code :	117
Management:	Rickard Gustafson ( CEO )
Number of employees:	10,710
Sales:	SEK 39.5 billion (2015/2016)
Passenger volume:	29.5 million (2015/2016)
Alliance :	Star Alliance
Frequent Flyer Program :	EuroBonus
Fleet size:	152 (+ 51 orders)
Aims:	National and international
Website:	www.flysas.com

SAS Scandinavian Airlines ( SAS for short , formerly Scandinavian Airlines System ) is a Scandinavian airline based in Stockholm . The largest company under the umbrella of the SAS Group is a member of the Star Alliance aviation alliance and has hubs in Copenhagen-Kastrup , Oslo-Gardermoen and Stockholm / Arlanda .

history

Foundation and first years

Former Douglas DC-3 of the SAS

Boeing 747-200B of the SAS in 1981

In 1946 the Danish Det Danske Luftfartselskab (DDL), the Swedish Svensk Interkontinental Lufttrafik and the Norwegian Det Norske Luftfartselskap merged to form a strong airline. SAS rose to become one of the leading airlines in Europe and today consists of two Danish, two Norwegian and three Swedish owners.

SAS already flew across the Atlantic in a Douglas DC-4 in the year it was founded. The route led from Copenhagen via Prestwick and Gander to New York.

On November 15, 1954, SAS opened with Douglas DC-6 B as the first airline the flight route from Europe to the west coast of the USA with the abbreviation via the so-called " polar route " (which did not actually fly over the North Pole ). On that day one plane flew from Copenhagen via Söndre Strömfjord on Greenland and Winnipeg in Canada to Los Angeles , a second plane took off in the opposite direction from Los Angeles at the same time. In 1957 the SAS opened the connection to Japan via Anchorage ( Alaska ) with a Douglas DC-7 C. This reduced the flight time from 50 to 32 hours compared to the previously used southern route.

In 1956, SAS commissioned Arne Jacobsen to build a hotel with a handling terminal in downtown Copenhagen. The SAS Royal Hotel was opened in 1960 and is considered Jacobsen's total work of art . From 1959 the company used its first jet aircraft , Sud Aviation Caravelle , and from 1960 Douglas DC-8 on long-haul routes. In 1961 SAS founded the subsidiary Scanair , which was active in charter air traffic . In 1965, SAS was the first airline to introduce a pan-European electronic reservation system and in 1969 hired Turi Widerøe, the first female pilot in a western airline.

In 1968 SAS, KLM and Swissair formed the KSS Group. From this alliance, the KSSU consortium emerged after the Union de Transports Aériens (UTA) joined in February 1970 .

From 1971, the Boeing 747 was the first wide-body aircraft to be used by SAS. From 1984 she operated a hovercraft between Copenhagen and Malmö .

The logo in the 1980s, the colors of the stripes come from the flags of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

Development in the 1990s and 2000s

Boeing 767-200ER of the SAS in 1993

SAS McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 in 2004

SAS is a founding member of the Star Alliance , one of the most important strategic aviation alliances . SAS Scandinavian Airlines is a subsidiary of the SAS Group , which held shares in the hotel operating company Rezidor (brand name then Radisson SAS ). She is also the founder of the frequent flyer program “EuroBonus”, to which seven other airlines are affiliated. In 1997 shares in the airline Widerøe were acquired, which has now been completely taken over by the SAS Group. In 1998 the Finnish airline Air Botnia was taken over and renamed Blue1 , in 2001 the Norwegian company Braathens was bought. Between 2003 and 2004 an attempt was made to establish a low-cost airline with the establishment of "Snowflake" .

The subsidiary SAS Cargo does not operate any cargo planes . It transports air cargo in the cargo holds of SAS passenger aircraft.

On September 8, 2006, SAS took delivery of the first of four Airbus A319-100s . For this reason, this machine with the aircraft registration OY-KBO was given a retro painting. The Swede Mats Jansson has been the managing director of SAS since January 1, 2007.

At the end of January 2009, the majority of the Spanish airline Spanair was sold to a Catalan consortium for a symbolic price of one euro . In the previous year Spanair had made a loss of 4.9 billion Swedish kronor . In the same month a 47.2 percent stake in Air Baltic was sold. Over the years, SAS itself has repeatedly been traded as a takeover candidate for German Lufthansa .

On February 3, 2009, it was announced that SAS will reduce its workforce by 40 percent from 23,000 to 14,000. 5600 employees leave the company either through outsourcing or with the sale of other parts of the company such as Spanair . In fiscal 2008, the company recorded a loss of 6.32 billion Swedish kronor (about 757 million US dollars ). At the beginning of August 2009 the balance sheet for the second quarter was announced, with a loss of more than 1 billion SEK.

The Norwegian airline of the SAS Group with the name SAS Norge was reintegrated into the main line on October 1, 2009. On November 1, 2009, SAS sold a 20 percent stake in the airline British Midland Airways to Lufthansa for a total of 38 million euros .

Recent history since 2010

Scandinavian Airlines headquarters (SAS Frösundavik Office Building)

According to an April 2011 announcement, the Norwegian government was preparing to sell its 14.29 percent stake in SAS because ownership was no longer deemed necessary.

At the end of January 2012, SAS had to make write-downs totaling around 1.7 billion Swedish kronor (190 million euros) at its former subsidiary Spanair due to the crisis . SAS explained that the total was made up of outstanding claims, guarantees and costs from the suspension of Spanair's operations. Thanks to good preparation, the depreciation had hardly any effect on ongoing business, it said. But according to SAS, without the insolvency of Spanair, they would even have been in the black. The SAS Group had largely parted with its involvement with Spanair in 2009, but still held a stake of almost eleven percent in the Spanish company.

SAS Scandinavian Airlines has been unprofitable for years and is posting huge losses. The society, which suffers greatly from the low ticket prices, is therefore trying to reduce its costs and thus to be able to return to profitability. After an austerity program launched in 2008 was able to reduce the company's costs by 23 percent, the follow-up austerity program launched at the end of 2011 is expected to reduce production costs by around three to five percent by 2015. SAS has big problems with the rapidly expanding low-cost air traffic in Scandinavia. Furthermore, it is more focused on European traffic than the major traditional airlines. Here, however, the chances of income are lower in comparison.

In October 2012 it was announced that SAS was planning to cut its employees' salaries by up to 25 percent and would also take out loans of around 500 million euros. Share trading was temporarily suspended at the end of October and the publication of the quarterly balance sheet was postponed for a short time. On November 19, after extensive negotiations, all eight trade unions involved finally agreed to an extensive package of measures to reorganize the company, which had previously been threatened with bankruptcy .

On October 26, 2013, SAS flooded their remaining McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 as the last major European company .

In December 2014, SAS took over the regional airline Cimber for 2.7 million euros. Their previous aircraft types (one ATR 72-200 and five Bombardier CRJ200s ) were taken out of service and replaced by twelve Bombardier CRJ900s from SAS. The Copenhagen Airport should be the base.

From the end of 2016, in view of the tough European business, 1,000 administrative jobs should be cut and operations bases abroad should be sought, due to wage costs in Northern Europe of 43 euros per hour compared to 25 euros on average in the EU. A redesign was started in September 2019, which also included a new paint job on the aircraft. The new design is significantly more minimalistic than the old one, for example the eye-catching red painting of the engine nacelles has been omitted. The vertical stabilizer, which is still blue and now extends to the fuselage below, is reminiscent of the paint scheme that Lufthansa introduced on its aircraft from 2018.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , SAS Scandinavian Airlines largely ceased commercial operations on March 16, 2020.

SAS destinations in 2012

Destinations

SAS serves numerous destinations in Europe from its aviation hubs . The intercontinental destinations are in the USA , China , Japan , Thailand and Israel .

In German-speaking countries, there are flights to Berlin , Bremen , Düsseldorf , Frankfurt , Geneva , Hamburg , Hanover , Innsbruck , Munich , Salzburg , Stuttgart , Vienna and Zurich . In addition, SAS maintains various code share agreements with other companies, for example with Lufthansa .

fleet

Airbus A319-100 of the SAS

Boeing 737-800 of the SAS

Bombardier CRJ900 from SAS

Current fleet

As of June 2020, the SAS Scandinavian Airlines fleet consists of 152 aircraft with an average age of 9.5 years:

Aircraft type	number	ordered	Options	Remarks	Seats ( Business / Eco + / Eco )	Average age (June 2020)
Airbus A319-100	4th			all inactive	150 (- / - / 150)	13.3 years
Airbus A320-200	11				168 (- / - / 168)	13.4 years
Airbus A320neo	39	41	5	22 inactive	180 (- / - / 180)	1.9 years
Airbus A321-200	8th			7 inactive	200 (- / - / 200)	18.1 years
Airbus A321LR		3		first delivery expected September 2020	157 (22/12/123)
Airbus A330-300	9			6 inactive	262 (32/56/174) 266 (32/56/178)	9.9 years
Airbus A340-300	4th			all inactive	247 (40/28/179)	18.5 years
Airbus A350-900	3	5	6th	received with new paintwork, all inactive	300 (40/32/228)	0.5 years
ATR 72-600	5	1		all operated by Xfly , three inactive	70 (- / - / 70)	6.8 years
Boeing 737-700	21st			17 equipped with winglets , 13 inactive; will be replaced by the Airbus A320neo	141 (- / - / 141)	17.1 years
Boeing 737-800	26th			15 equipped with winglets, 14 inactive; will be replaced by the Airbus A320neo	181 (- / - / 181)	13.8 years
Bombardier CRJ900	22nd	1		19 operated by Cityjet ; three operated by Xfly , 15 inactive	90 (- / - / 90)	4.6 years
total	152	51	11			9.5 years

Special paints

Aircraft type	Aircraft registration	Painting	Period	image
Airbus A319-100	OY-KBO	Retro	since August 2006
Airbus A340-300	OY-KBM	Star Alliance	since January 2012
Boeing 737-800	LN-RRL LN-RRW		RLL: since December 2003 RRW: since March 2014

Sud Aviation Caravelle III of the SAS in 1965

McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 of the SAS in 1984

Former aircraft types

In the past, SAS used the following types of aircraft, among others:

Airbus A300B2-300 / B4-100 ATR 42-500 ATR 72-200 / 500 BAC 1-11 Boeing 737-400 / 500/600 Boeing 747-100 / 200B Boeing 767-200ER / 300ER Avro RJ70 / 85 BAe 146-100 / 200/300 Bombardier CRJ200 De Havilland DHC-8-400 Convair CV-440 Douglas DC-3

Douglas DC-4 Douglas DC / 6 / DC-6B Douglas DC-7 C Douglas DC-8-33 / 55/62/63 Douglas DC-9-32 / 41/51 Fokker 50 McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 McDonnell Douglas DC-9-81 / 82/83/87 McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30 Saab 2000 Sud Aviation Caravelle III Vickers Viking Vickers Viscount

Incidents

General

SAS Scandinavian Airlines recorded five fatal accidents in its history up to November 2018:

• On July 4, 1948, a two-month-old SAS Douglas DC-6 ( aircraft registration SE-BDA ) collided with an Avro York C.1 of the Royal Air Force (MW248) in flight over Great Britain . Both machines were approaching Northolt Airport , collided a good 6 kilometers north of the airfield and crashed. All 32 people on board the DC-6 as well as the seven occupants of the York were killed.

• On October 2, 1948, a Short Sandringham 5 of the SAS (LN-IAW) had an accident while landing at the then sea airport Trondheim-Hommelvik. When landing in heavy seas and cross winds, there was a loss of control. 19 of the 45 inmates were killed.

• On May 15, 1950, a Short Sandringham 6 of the SAS (LN-IAU) crashed back into the sea shortly after taking off at the then sea airport Harstad / Narvik on the way to Tromsø airport and sank an hour later. All 33 occupants (7 crew members and 26 passengers) survived.

• On January 19, 1960 a Sud Aviation Caravelle of SAS ( OY-KRB ) had an accident while approaching Ankara Airport . For unknown reasons, the machine flew too low and hit the ground about 10 kilometers from the runway. None of the 42 people on board survived.

• On February 8, 1965, a Douglas DC-7 C of the SAS (SE-CCC) had an accident while taking off for a flight to Copenhagen at Tenerife-Los Rodeos Airport . After taking off, the machine sank back onto the runway because the landing gear was retracted too early. The aircraft caught fire and was destroyed, but all 84 passengers and 7 crew members were able to leave the aircraft beforehand.

• On January 13, 1969, a Douglas DC-8-62 of the SAS ( LN-MOO ) crashed while approaching Los Angeles International Airport . The machine crashed about 11 kilometers from the runway in the Pacific , killing 15 of 45 people on board. The cause is considered to be human error (see also Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 933 ) .

• On December 27, 1991 a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-81 of the SAS ( OY-KHO ) crashed into a field on Scandinavian Airlines flight 751 shortly after taking off from Stockholm / Arlanda Airport . Called the “miracle of Stockholm”, all 129 people on board survived. The cause was a failure of both engines due to clear ice that had separated from the wings.

• On October 8, 2001, the air accident at Milan Linate was the worst accident in the history of SAS. A McDonnell Douglas DC-9-87 ( SE-DMA ) collided with a Cessna CitationJet CJ2 ( D-IEVX ) that was accidentally on the runway during take-off at Milan Linate Airport . Badly damaged, the DC-9 was only able to stay in the air for a short time after the collision and finally fell into a baggage hall behind the runway. In this accident, all 110 people died on board the SAS machine and the 4 occupants of the private jet, which from its parking position, unnoticed by air traffic control, took the wrong route to the take-off position and therefore crossed the runway of the DC-9. At the time of the accident, fog prevailed and the ground radar, although not mandatory, had been inactive for some time.

Breakdown series of the De Havilland DHC-8-400

In addition to the serious accidents listed, a number of minor incidents involving the De Havilland DHC-8-400 of the SAS received a great deal of attention and ultimately led to the decommissioning of this type.

• On September 9, 2007, the right landing gear of a DHC-8-400 ( aircraft registration number LN-RDK ) broke on Scandinavian Airlines flight 1209 during an emergency landing at Aalborg Airport . Shortly afterwards, the right engine ignited and parts of the propeller buried themselves in the cabin as a result of an explosion. Of the 69 passengers and four crew members, eleven people had to be taken to hospital due to minor injuries.
• On September 12, 2007 the problem was repeated with another DHC-8-400 on Scandinavian Airlines flight 2748 from Copenhagen to Palanga . The captain arranged for an emergency landing at Vilnius Airport , which again broke a landing gear. As a result, Bombardier recommended all DHC-8-400 aircraft that have completed more than 10,000 landings to be decommissioned pending inspection. For this reason, SAS initially shut down all aircraft of the type.
• After the temporary flight ban was lifted, another incident occurred on October 27, 2007. A DHC-8-400 on Scandinavian Airlines flight 2868 from Bergen had 40 passengers and four crew on board when it had to make a safety landing at its destination airport in Copenhagen. Again, the right landing gear was not extended, whereupon the pilot switched off the right engine before landing in order to ensure the safest possible landing. There were only a few slightly injured among the 44 people on board.

On October 28, 2007, SAS finally announced that it would immediately remove all De Havilland DHC-8-400s from the fleet.

See also

• List of airlines
• Wallenberg family

Web links

Commons : SAS Scandinavian Airlines  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• SAS Scandinavian Airlines website (including Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, German)
• www.sasmuseet.net
  • historical photos

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} sasgroup.net - SAS Annual Report 2015/2016 (English), accessed February 7, 2017
2. ^ SAS Group and Scandinavian Airlines Facts. (PDF; 3.8 MB) (No longer available online.) Flysas.com, archived from the original on January 24, 2014 ; accessed on March 20, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ FliegerRevue November 2011, pp. 12–15, Punctual Northern Lights .
4. ↑ sascargo.com - SAS Cargo Milestones (English)
5. ↑ sasgroup.net - The SAS Group completes transaction in respect of the sale of its 47.2% holding in airBaltic, January 30, 2009 (English), accessed on June 28, 2017
6. ↑ Lufthansa raises forecast. (No longer available online.) Boerse.ard.de, March 2, 2009, archived from the original on January 12, 2010 ; Retrieved February 19, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ Handelsblatt - Despite the austerity program: Lufthansa is looking for takeover candidates, April 8, 2013, accessed on June 26, 2013
8. ↑ SAS reducing its workforce by 40%. news.bbc.co.uk, February 3, 2009, accessed February 19, 2010 . 
9. ↑ SAS gör miljardförlust for andra kvartalet. (No longer available online.) Www.nyhetsverket.se, August 12, 2009, archived from the original on September 12, 2015 ; Retrieved June 26, 2013 (Swedish). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ^ SAS Norge. (No longer available online.) Ch-aviation , archived from the original on October 27, 2010 ; Retrieved February 19, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ↑ Lufthansa takes over British regional airlines completely. Financial Times Deutschland, October 1, 2009, archived from the original on October 4, 2009 ; Retrieved February 19, 2010 . 
12. ↑ n-tv - Chapter SAS before the end: Norway wants out, April 1, 2011
13. ↑ Handelsblatt - Spanair threatens a million-dollar fine, January 28, 2012 accessed on January 29, 2012
14. ↑ volaspheric.blogspot.de - SAS cuts costs, July 19, 2012 (English)
15. ↑ Der Standard - Scandinavian Airline SAS in Crisis, November 11, 2012
16. ↑ aero.de - SAS reaches agreement with unions on crisis plan November 19, 2012
17. ↑ aero.de - SAS for the last time with MD80 in Frankfurt October 23, 2013
18. ↑ aerotelegraph.com - SAS buys Cimber accessed on December 11, 2014
19. ↑ Neue Zürcher Zeitung , December 14, 2016, page 27
20. ↑ Achim Schaffrinna: SAS Scandinavian Airlines in the new design. In: designtagebuch.de. September 25, 2019, accessed on November 25, 2019 : “Characteristic of the new SAS exterior design is a silver-gray SAS lettering on the front part of the fuselage, silver-blue engines (previously red) and a blue ribbon that covers the entire Includes vertical tail and also runs diagonally across the bottom of the fuselage. Lufthansa had made a similar expansion of the color blue in the course of the last redesign (see comparative illustration). The new fleet design is presented in detail in a web special. " 
21. ↑ Laura Frommberg: No inquiry: SAS is also almost ceasing operations. In: aerotelegraph.com. March 15, 2020, accessed March 16, 2020 . 
22. ↑ flysas.com - Destinations accessed on February 7, 2017
23. ↑ ^{a b c} SAS Scandinavian Airlines Fleet Details and History. In: planespotters.net. June 19, 2020, accessed on June 19, 2020 . 
24. ↑ Airbus Orders and deliveries. In: airbus.com. March 31, 2020, accessed April 15, 2020 . 
25. ↑ Our Fleet. In: sasgroup.net. Retrieved September 25, 2019 (American English). 
26. ↑ Standard fleet : SAS gets another 50 Airbus A320 Neo. In: aeroTELEGRAPH. April 10, 2018, accessed on April 15, 2020 (Swiss Standard German). 
27. ↑ ^{a b} What SAS is planning to do with the Airbus A321LR at aero.de
28. ↑ Morten Lund Tiirikainen: SAS styrer mod ren Airbus-flåde. April 27, 2016, accessed on September 25, 2019 (da-DK). 
29. ↑ SAS places order for an additional 50 Airbus A320neo aircraft to create a single-type fleet. Retrieved September 25, 2019 (American English). 
30. ^ SAS Scandinavian Airlines Fleet Details and History. planespotters.net, accessed February 7, 2017 . 
31. ^ Accident report Collision Northolt, DC-6 SE-BDA , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 18, 2018.
32. ^ Accident report collision Northolt, Avro York MW248 , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 18, 2018.
33. ↑ James J. Halley: Broken Wings. Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents . Air-Britain (Historians), Tunbridge Wells, 1999, ISBN 0-85130-290-4 , p. 76.
34. ^ Accident report Sandringham LN-IAW , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on November 25, 2018.
35. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report from the Sandringham LN-IAU in the Aviation Safety Network , accessed on November 25, 2018.
36. ↑ Caravelle OY-KRB aircraft accident data and report in the Aviation Safety Network , accessed on March 18, 2012.
37. ^ Accident report DC-7C SE-CCC , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 26, 2020.
38. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report DC-8-62 LN-MOO in the Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 20, 2016.
39. ↑ havkom.se - Accident report of the Swedish Accident Investigation Board ( Memento of the original from June 15, 2011 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file, 8.8 MB) accessed on July 2, 2014 
40. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report DC-9-87 SE-DMA in the Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 20, 2016.
41. ↑ Aircraft landing gear breaks in an emergency landing - several injured. Der Spiegel , September 9, 2007, accessed on February 19, 2010 . 
42. ↑ airliners.de - Bombardier recommends starting ban for DHC-8-400, September 12, 2007 ( Memento of September 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
43. ↑ waymaker.net - SAS removes Dash 8 Q400 from service permanently, October 28, 2007 ( Memento from November 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive )