SCANDINAVIAN AIRLINES SYSTEM

'Scandinavian Airlines System' or 'SAS' is a multi-national airline for Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and the leading carrier in the Scandinavian countries, based in Stockholm, Sweden and owned by SAS AB. It is a founding member of the Star Alliance. It is also the founder of Air Greenland, Spanair, Thai Airways International and the former charter airline Scanair. SAS operates out of three primary hubs, Stockholm-Arlanda Airport, Copenhagen Airport and Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. In 2006 Scandinavian Airlines had 25 million passengers and the SAS Group had 38.6 million passengers.^[1]

Contents

History

Subsidiaries

Destinations

News

Fleet

Retired fleet

Fingerprint biometric identification

Cabin

Domestic

Intra-Scandinavia

Europe

Intercontinental

Euro Bonus

Frequent flyer programs

Membership clubs

SAS lounges

Locations

Partners

Incidents and accidents

See also

References

External links

Company websites

Other websites

History

The airline was founded on August 1, 1946, when the flag carriers of Denmark, Sweden and Norway formed a partnership to handle intercontinental traffic to Scandinavia. Operations started on September 17, 1946. The companies coordinated European operations in 1948 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, stopping in Søndre Strømfjord in Greenland, and it became popular with Hollywood celebrities and production people when 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 these trans polar routes were enormously popular with American tourists in the 1950s. It would later operate trans-polar routes to East Asia.
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 the 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 which, along with Lufthansa, own 49.9% of the carrier. SAS bought 95% of Spanair, the second largest airline in Sweden as well as Air Greenland. There are plans to dispose of all of these holdings. ^[2]
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 defunct carrier, Swissair, in a project called Alcazar. ^[3] 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. SAS employs 9147 staff.
In 2004, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) was divided into 4 different companies SAS Scandinavian Airlines Sverige AB, SAS Scandinavian Airlines Danmark AS, SAS Braathens AS and SAS Scandinavian International AS. SAS Braathens was rebranded SAS Scandinavian Airlines Norge AS in 2007.

Subsidiaries

SAS Airbus A340-313X

SAS McDonnell Douglas MD-82

; Scandinavian Airlines International
: Is responsible for the SAS Group's intercontinental traffic with long haul routes to North America and Asia out of Stockholm and Copenhagen. Scandinavian Airlines International also operates all sales units outside Scandinavia. In all, Scandinavian Airlines International, has aprox. 900 employees.
; Scandinavian Airlines Danmark
: Is responsible for the traffic from Copenhagen to other European countries, the route from Copenhagen to Oslo, as well as for Danish domestic routes. Scandinavian Airlines DK is responsible for the sales units within Denmark. The company has about 2800 employees.
; Scandinavian Airlines Sverige
: Is responsible for the traffic from Stockholm to other European countries, as well as for Swedish domestic routes. Scandinavian Airlines Sweden is also responsible for the sales units within Sweden. The company has about 2500 employees.
; Scandinavian Airlines Norge
: Scandinavian Airlines Norge is the result of the merger of SAS Norway and Braathens. The airline was first called SAS Braathens, but changed name to Scandinavian Airlines Norge in 2007, SAS Norge is responsible for the traffic within Norway, as well as for the routes from Norway to other European countries. SAS Norge is also responsible for the sales units within Norway. The company has about 3500 employees.
; SAS Business Opportunities

Destinations

Main articles: Scandinavian Airlines System destinations

News

Scandinavian Airlines has announced 11 new routes out from Stockholm in 2007, to Beijing (4 flights/week), Trondheim (1 daily flight), Malaga (3 flights/week), Palma de Mallorca (1 flight/week), Glasgow (2 flights/week), Reykjavik (3 flights/week), Munich (1 flight/day) and Vienna (1 flight/day) . The other 3 are summer routes from Stockholm to Bergen (5 flights/week), Lyon (2 flights/week) and Bristol (2 flights/week.) SAS has also announced three seasonal routes from Copenhagen to Pristina (1 flight/week), to Greenland (3 flights/week)[1] starting May 2007 and to Dubai ( 3 flights/week) starting October 2007. Scandinavian Airlines announced February 8th that they will fly from Stockholm to Bangkok 3 flights/week starting late October 2007. [2]. In June 2007 SAS announced two new routes from Gothenburg to Barcelona and Malaga and one new route between Stockholm and Barcelona starting in October 2007.[3]

Fleet

''See also SAS Group Fleet''
The Scandinavian Airlines fleet includes the following aircraft as of January 2007:^[4]

'SAS Scandinavian Airlines Fleet'

Aircraft	Total	Passengers (Business/Extra/Economy)	Routes	Notes
Airbus A319-100	4	141	European, and flights to Greenland	SAS Denmark
Airbus A321-200	8	198	European	SAS Denmark
Airbus A330-300	4	264 (34/35/195)	New York, Chicago, Washington	SAS International
Airbus A340-300	7	245 (46/28/171)	Asia, Seattle	SAS International
Boeing 737-400	4	150	Short-medium haul	SAS Norway
Boeing 737-500	13	120	Scandinavian	SAS Norway
Boeing 737-600	26	112-123	European	SAS Norway, SAS Sweden
Boeing 737-700	17	131-141	European	SAS Norway, SAS Sweden
Boeing 737-800	13	186	European	SAS Norway, SAS Sweden
Bombardier Dash 8 Q400	23	72-76	European	SAS Denmark, SAS Sweden
Fokker 50	6	50	Norwegian Domestic	SAS Norway
McDonnell Douglas MD-81	2	150	Domestic, European	SAS Denmark, SAS Sweden
McDonnell Douglas MD-82	34	150	Domestic, European	SAS Denmark, SAS Sweden
McDonnell Douglas MD-87	8	125	Domestic, European	SAS Denmark, SAS Sweden

SAS Scandinavian Airlines Fleet only for subsdidaries see SAS Group fleet. The average age of the SAS fleet is 10.7 years as of April 2007.^[5]

Retired fleet

SAS Scandinavian Airlines retired fleet

Type	Years	Routes	Notes
Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress"	1946	Long haul	from ABA
Junkers 52	1946-1956	Norwegian domestic	from DNL
DC-3	1946-1957	European
DC-4	1946-1956	Long haul
DC-6	1948-1960	Long haul
DC-6B	1952-1964	Long haul
Convair Metropolitan	1956-1970	European and domestic
Convair 990		European
Sud Aviation Caravelle III	1959-1974	European and domestic
DC-7	1956-1967	Long haul
DC-8	1960-1985	Long haul
DC-9	1968-2003	European and domestic
Fokker F28	1973-1999	European and domestic
DC-10	1974-1991	Long haul
Boeing 747	1971-1989	Long haul (Los Angeles, New York and Far East)
Airbus A300	1980-1987	European
Fokker F27	1984-1990	European and domestic
Boeing 767	1989-2004	Long haul
Saab 2000	1997-2003	European and domestic

Fingerprint biometric identification

In 2006 SAS Sweden launched a new biometric system in use throughout Sweden. Each passenger's fingerprints are matched to their respective checked baggage, for security purposes. The new technology will be phased into all airports that SAS serves.

Cabin

Domestic

; One class
: Breakfast is served free, after 9am sandwiches and drinks are available for purchase from the "CloudShop".

Intra-Scandinavia

: Passenger booked with an Business class ticket travels in Economy Extra on Intra-Scandinavian flights.
; Economy Class
: Breakfast, sandwiches and drinks are available for purchase from the "CloudShop".
; Economy Extra
: Fast-track at the Security at some European airports, a three-course cold meal or cold breakfast

Europe

; Economy Class
: Breakfast, sandwiches and drinks are available for purchase from the "CloudShop".
; Economy Extra
: Fast-track at security at some European airport, a three-course cold meal or cold breakfast.
; Business
: Fast-track at security at some European airport and access to lounges. Free center seat. Complimentary magazines and destination newspapers are distributed in the cabin. Cocktails and cold snacks are served before meal, a three-course hot meal or hot breakfast, on flights shorter than 1h 40 min a cold meal is served. After the meal dessert, coffee/tea and avec are served separate. Before landing a give-away is handed out (eg. Valhrona chocolate).

Intercontinental

; Economy Class
: Cocktails before dinner, and a three-course dinner is served (incl. 1 alc. beverage.) The starter is typically a salad, followed by a hot meal, fresh bread and dessert. Coffee or tea is also served. Between meals juice, water, snacks and sandwiches are available, depending on the length of the flight. Avec and other alcoholic beverages are available for purchase. On nighttime flights, breakfast is served before landing. On daytime flights a cold meal is served.
; Economy Extra
: Fast-track at security at some European airport, juice upon boarding, cocktails and cold snacks are served before dinner. A three-course dinner is then served. The starter is normally a salad, followed by a choice between two hot main dishes, accompanied by fresh bread and dessert. Coffee or tea with brandy, cognac or liqueur is also served. Between meals juice, water, snacks and sandwiches are available, depending on the length of the flight. A hot breakfast or lunch is served on Asian flights, while on US flights a snack or breakfast is served.
; Business
: Fast-track at security at some European airport and access to lounges, upon boarding, cocktails are served, and cocktails and cold snacks are available before dinner. A full three-course dinner follows. The starter is again a mixed salad, followed by a first course and a choice of four different hot meals for the main course. There is always one vegetarian alternative. A selection of cheeses and desserts is served together with coffee or tea with brandy (cognac/liqueur). Alternatively, there is the option of a light cold meal on all night flights, served before the main dinner service. In between meals there is a buffet in the galley serving a range of coffee and sandwiches. On nighttime flights breakfast will be served before landing, with an option of choosing an express breakfast or a Grab and Go Breakfast bag after landing. On daytime flights a second meal will be served.

Euro Bonus

SAS Boeing 737-600

Frequent flyer programs

SAS own program EuroBonus, also earns points on other Star Alliance Frequent flyer programs.

Membership clubs

Fly Home Club, for Scandinavians living abroad.

SAS lounges

Locations

The following locations are SAS Scandinavian, Stockholm, and Business locations:

★ Brussels Airport

★ Charles de Gaulle International Airport

★ Chicago O'Hare International Airport

★ Copenhagen Airport (2)

★ Gothenburg-Landvetter Airport

★ Helsinki-Vantaa Airport

★ London Heathrow Airport

★ Newark Liberty International Airport

★ Oslo Airport (2)

★ Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

★ Stockholm-Arlanda Airport (3)
EuroBonus Gold card members are allowed to use partner clubs, which offer more clubs in more locations. For partner club information, visit http://www.flysas.com/: [4].

Partners

Except the agreements SAS has to its Star Alliance partners SAS also have strategic agreements with Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian and United. The agreement includes code sharing and time tables are suited for easier connections between SAS and the other airlines. SAS also have co-operations with the other airlines with in the SAS Group.

Incidents and accidents

★ On July 4, 1948, a DC-6B, SE-BDA collided with a British military plane at Northwood, north of London, England. All 32 onboard were killed.

★ On January 19, 1960, a Caravelle III, OY-KRB crashed near Ankara, Turkey. All 42 onboard were killed.

★ On January 13, 1969, a DC-8-62, LN-MOO, hit the water while approaching Los Angeles. 15 of the 45 onboard were killed.

★ On April 19, 1970 a DC-8-62, SE-DBE, experienced an uncontained engine fire during takeoff from Rome. Aircraft burned out, but all onboard managed to evacuate safely.

★ On January 30, 1973, a DC-9-21, LN-RLM SAS flight 370, Oslo-Alta via Tromsø, was cleared for takeoff from runway 24. The takeoff run was normal and the DC-9 rotated at V_R (125 knots). At that moment the stall warning system activated. Although the speed had increased to 140 knots, the pilot decided to abort the takeoff. The remaining 1100 m however was not enough to bring the aircraft to a halt, the reversers did not deploy completely and the aircraft overran the runway and onto the ice covered Oslofjord. All passengers and crew evacuated before the plane broke through the ice and sank 20 minutes later. The decision to abort the take-off in spite of the high speed was due to the fact, that the flight crew had received outdated (by several hours) runway data, giving much better braking coefficients than the actual ones.

★ On February 28, 1984, SAS Flight 901, DC-10, LN-RKB departed Oslo (GEN) for a flight to New York JFK. The aircraft touched down 1440 m past the runway 4R threshold. The crew steered the plane to the right side off the runway to avoid approach lights. The DC-10 ended up in shallow water. All onboard the plane were uninjured.

★ On December 27, 1991, SAS flight 751, a MD-81, OY-KHO "Dana Viking" crashlanded at Gottröra, Sweden. In the initial climb both engines ingested ice breaking loose from the wings, which had not been properly deiced before departure. Both engines destroyed, leaving the aircraft with no propulsion. The aircraft landed in a field and broke in three parts. No fire broke out and all aboard the plane survived. Captain Stefan G. Rasmussen was later decorated by the Danish Queen for his outstanding and professional performance. This incident was mentioned on The History Channel's ''True Action Adventures'' episode "Against All Odds" which first aired in the United States on April 2, 1997.

★ The worst SAS accident occurred on October 8 2001 in Milan, Italy, when an MD-87, SE-DMA collided with a small Cessna jet during take-off and left 114 people dead. It has been established that the cause of the accident was a misunderstanding between air traffic controllers and the Cessna jet, and that the SAS crew had no role in causing the accident. Another factor was the fact that the ground movement radar was inoperative at the time of the accident.

See also

★ SAS Group

★ Star Alliance

★ Norwegian aviation college

References

1. Operational key figures Euroland.com
2. http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/13/bloomberg/bxair.php
3. http://www.iht.com/articles/1993/11/22/alcazar_2.php
4. Flight International, 3–9 October 2006
5. SAS Fleet age Airfleets.net

External links

Company websites

★ SAS website

★ SAS.mobi - mobile website

★ SAS Denmark website

★ SAS Norway website

★ SAS Sweden website

★ SAS Group corporate website

★ SAS Flight Operations

Other websites

★ Airfleets.net: SAS Fleet Age

★ Planespotters.net: SAS Jet Fleet Detail

★ Scandinavian Airlines System - SAS at the Aviation Safety Network Database