The story
Founding
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 combined air traffic of the three Scandinavian countries. The first president of SAS was Per Norlin. On 17 September 1946, operations started under the new entity and the first international service was conducted between Stockholm and New York. Within a half-year, SAS set a new record for carrying the heaviest single piece of air cargo across the Atlantic on a scheduled passenger airliner, by shipping a 1,400-pound electrical panel from New York to the Sandvik company in Sweden.
In 1948, the Swedish flag carrier AB Aerotransport joined SAS and quickly coordinated its European operations between both carriers. Three years later, the companies formally merged to form the SAS Consortium. When established, ownership of the airline was divided between SAS Danmark (28.6%), SAS Norge (28.6%), and SAS Sverige (42.8%), all of which were owned 50% by private investors and 50% by their governments.
Transpolar route
During 1954, SAS became the first airline to commence scheduled flights on a polar route, flying Douglas DC-6Bs from Copenhagen to Los Angeles with stops in Søndre Strømfjord (now Kangerlussuaq) in Greenland and Winnipeg in Canada, pioneering a commercial route that marked a milestone in transpolar aviation history. By the summer of 1956, traffic on the route had justified the frequency to be increased to three flights per week. The service proved relatively popular with Hollywood celebrities and members of the film industry, and the route turned out to be a publicity coup for SAS. Thanks to a tariff structure that allowed free transit to other European destinations via Copenhagen, this trans-polar route gained increasing popularity with American tourists throughout the 1950s.
In 1957, SAS was the first airline to offer around-the-world service over the North Pole via a second polar route served by Douglas DC-7Cs flying from Copenhagen to Tokyo via Anchorage International Airport in Alaska. The flight via Alaska was a compromise solution since the Soviet Union would not allow SAS, among other air carriers, to fly across Siberia between Europe and Japan, and Chinese airspace was also closed.
Jet era
In 1959, SAS entered the jet age, having procured a number of French-built Sud Aviation Caravelles as the company's first jetliner.
In addition to modern airliners, SAS also adopted innovative operating practices and systems to improve the customer experience. In 1965, it was the first airline to introduce an electronic reservation system. During 1971, SAS introduced its first Boeing 747 jumbo jet into service. Prior to the delivery of its first 747s, SAS had formed the KSS maintenance consortium with KLM and Swissair in 1969 to provide a maintenance pool and standardize aircraft specifications for the three airlines' 747 fleets. The consortium later incorporated UTA and was renamed into KSSU to jointly acquire and maintain McDonnell Douglas DC-10 widebody trijets. In 1982, SAS was recognised as the most punctual airline operating in Europe at that time.
During its first decades, the airline built two large hotels in central Copenhagen, SAS Royal Hotel (5 stars) and the even larger SAS Hotel Scandinavia (4 stars, with a casino on the 26th floor). In 1980, SAS opened its first hotel outside of Scandinavia, the SAS Kuwait Hotel. By 1989, SAS's hotel division owned a 40 percent share in the Intercontinental Hotels Group. Following the deregulation of commercial aviation in Europe and the competitive pressures from new rivals, SAS experienced economic difficulties (as did many incumbent flag carrier airlines) this heavily contributed to the airline's decision to sell its hotel chain to the Radisson Hotel Group during 1992.
Consolidation, acquisitions, and partnerships
During the early 1990s, SAS unsuccessfully tried to merge itself with KLM, along with Austrian Airlines and Swissair, in a proposed combined entity commonly called Alcazar. However, months of negotiations towards this ambitious merger ultimately collapsed due to multiple unsettled issues; this strategic failure heavily contributed to the departure of Carlzon that same year and his replacement by Jan Reinås. The airline marked its 50th year of operation on 1 August 1996 with the harmonization and name of SAS's parent company to SAS Danmark A/S, SAS Norge ASA and SAS Sverige AB. During May 1997, SAS became a founding member of the global Star Alliance network, joining with airlines such as Air Canada, Lufthansa, Thai Airways International, and United Airlines.
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In June 2001, the ownership structure of SAS was changed, 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%), while the remaining 50 percent of shares were publicly held and traded on the stock market. During 2004, SAS was again restructured, being divided into four separate companies: SAS Scandinavian Airlines Sverige AB, SAS Scandinavian Airlines Danmark A/S, SAS Braathens AS, and SAS Scandinavian International AS. SAS Braathens was re-branded SAS Scandinavian Airlines Norge AS in 2007.
2009–2021: Restructuring
With the growth of budget airlines and decreasing fares in Scandinavia, the business experienced financial hardship. By 2009, competitive pressures had compelled the airline to launch a cost-cutting initiative. In the first step of which, the business sold its stakes in other companies, such as British Midland International, Spanair, and airBaltic, and began to restructure its operations. During January 2009, an agreement to divest more than 80 percent of the holdings in Spanair was signed with a Catalan group of investors led by Consorci de Turisme de Barcelona and Catalana d'Inciatives. These changes reportedly reduced the airliner's expenses by around 23 per cent between 2008 and 2011.
In November 2012, the company came under heavy pressure from its owners and banks to implement even heavier cost-cutting measures as a condition for continued financial support. Negotiations with the respective trade unions took place for more than a week and exceeded the original deadline; in the end, an agreement was reached between SAS and the trade unions that would increase the work time, cutting employee's salaries by between 12 and 20 percent, along with reductions to the pension and retirement plans; these measures were aimed at keeping the airline as an operating concern. SAS was criticized for how it handled the negotiations, having reportedly denied facilities to the union delegations.
During 2017, SAS announced that it was forming a new airline, Scandinavian Airlines Ireland, operating out of Heathrow Airport and Málaga Airport to fly European routes on its parent's behalf using nine Airbus A320neos. SAS sought to replace its own aircraft with cheaper ones crewed and based outside Scandinavia to compete better with other airlines. The Swedish Pilots Union expressed its dissatisfaction with the operational structure of the new airline, suggesting it violated the current labour-agreements. The Swedish Cabin Crew Union also condemned the new venture and stated that SAS established the airline to "not pay decent salaries" to cabin crew.
In 2018, SAS announced that it had placed an order for 50 Airbus A320neo narrow-body jetliners to facilitate the creation of a single-type fleet. That same year, in June, the Norwegian government divested its stake in the airline. As part of an environmental initiative launched by San Francisco International Airport (SFO), SAS flights operating out of SFO since December 2018 have been supplied with sustainable aviation fuel from Shell and SkyNRG. On 27 June 2018, the Norwegian government announced that it had sold all its shares in SAS.
In July 2021, the European Commission approved a Swedish and Danish aid measure of approximately US$356 million to support SAS. In September 2021, SAS announced that it would establish two operating subsidiaries; SAS Connect and SAS Link, with its existing SAS Ireland subsidiary to be rebranded as the new SAS Connect, while SAS Link would initially operate the airline's Embraer E195 aircraft, and the operations of both companies to begin by early 2022.
2022–2024: Sweden's exit, Air France-KLM entry and alliance shift
Following little progress with SAS's restructuring plan, SAS Forward, the Swedish government announced on 7 June 2022 that Sweden, which owns 21.8% of the company, would not inject new capital into SAS and that it did "not aim to be a long-term shareholder in the company". In early July 2022, nearly 1,000 SAS pilots went on a 15-day strike over wages and cost-cutting measures, severely disrupting operations. A day after the strike began, the airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States on 5 July 2022.
In September 2022, SAS announced it was returning at least ten aircraft to lessors, including five long-haul aircraft - amongst them two barely two year old Airbus A350s. This measure is a result of the closure of Russian airspace for flights to Asia which caused a severe drop in demand and efficiency. As of November 2022, SAS announced it was searching for a buyer for one of their Airbus A350 aircraft.
In October 2023, it was announced that Air France–KLM would be investing alongside the Danish government and two investment firms (Castlelake and Lind Invest) in SAS, with the airline group buying up to 20% of SAS shares following the airline's ongoing Chapter 11 process in the United States. With the investment (if approved by the EU Commission, and respective US and Swedish courts), SAS left Star Alliance and joined SkyTeam alongside Air France–KLM.
On 19 March 2024, US Bankruptcy Court approved the new restructuring plan and investment, allowing SAS to exit Chapter 11 by mid 2024. It also applied for company reorganization in Sweden on 27 March. SAS announced it would leave Star Alliance by 31 August 2024, becoming a SkyTeam member the next day, as confirmed on 29 April. On 12 June, Stockholm District Court announced that it would hold a hearing for the company reorganization on 12 July, eventually approving it on 19 July. On 28 June, European Commission announced that it approved the restructuring plan.
In September 2024, Scandinavian Airlines announced it would terminate its wet-leasing contract with Xfly by November 2024. On 17 September 2024, SAS announced a partnership with Braathens Regional Airlines (BRA), designating them as a subcontractor to operate flights from Stockholm Arlanda Airport starting in 2025, with BRA announcing it would cease operating its own domestic flight network from Stockholm Bromma Airport. This collaboration, valued at approximately SEK 6 billion over seven years, aims to strengthen SAS's domestic network in Sweden, increasing daily departures to destinations such as Visby, Gothenburg, Malmö, and Luleå.
On 18 September 2024, just a month after the completion of the restructuring, SAS announced expansion of the route network from Copenhagen Airport with 15 new destinations from Summer 2025. Following the new ownership structure, the airline will focus on positioning the airport as the airline's main hub for international travel.
On 4 July 2025, Air France-KLM announced its intention to increase its stake in SAS’s share capital from 19.9% to 60.5%.
From Wikipedia’s article on Scandinavian Airlines, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3