Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

Scandinavian Airlines System

Encyclopedia : S : SC : SCA : Scandinavian Airlines System


Scandinavian Airlines System is a multi-national airline for Norway, Denmark and Sweden, and the leading carrier in the Nordic countries. Based in Stockholm, Sweden and owned by SAS AB it is a founding member of the Star Alliance. SAS operates out of two primary hubs, Stockholm-Arlanda Airport (ARN), Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup (CPH) and SAS Braathens from its hub Oslo Airport, Gardermoen (OSL). In 2005 Scandinavian Airlines (incl. SAS Braathens) had 27 million passengers.[link]

History

The airline was founded on 1 August 1946 when the flag carriers of Denmark, Sweden and Norway formed a partnership to handle intercontinental traffic to Scandinavia. Operations started on 17 September 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 Sweden (42.8%), all owned 50% by private investors and 50% by their governments.

SAS gradually acquired control of the domestic markets in all three countries by acquiring full or partial control of local airlines. In May 1997 SAS formed the global Star Alliance network with Air Canada, Lufthansa, Thai Airways International and United Airlines. 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.

Airlines in Scandinavian Airlines Businesses

SAS Airbus A340-313X
Enlarge
SAS Airbus A340-313X

SAS McDonnell Douglas MD-82
Enlarge
SAS McDonnell Douglas MD-82

Destinations

Further information: Scandinavian Airlines System destinations






Fleet

The Scandinavian Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft as of June 2006: (164 aircraft)

Type Number Seats Notes
Airbus A340-300 7 261
Airbus A333-300 4 261
Airbus A321-200 8 184
Boeing 737-400 4 150
Boeing 737-500 14 120
Boeing 737-600 27 95-123
Boeing 737-700 15 134
Boeing 737-800 12 132-179
McDonnell Douglas MD-81 9 141-145
McDonnell Douglas MD-82 25 141-145
McDonnell Douglas MD-85 15 120
deHavilland Q400 24 58-72
Fokker F50 6 58

Note: Fleet from subsidiary airlines is not included.

The average age of the SAS fleet is 9.9 years at June 2006.

On order

Type Number Seats Notes
Airbus A319-100 4 124 Delivery starting Aug-06

Airline Affinity Programs

Services

Scanorama, the company inflight magazine
Enlarge
Scanorama, the company inflight magazine




Incidents and accidents

On January 30, 1973, a DC-9, SAS flight 370, Oslo-Alta via Tromsø. At 23:18 the crew was cleared for takeoff from runway 24. The takeoff run was normal and the DC-9 rotated at VR (125kts). 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 1100m 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. The DC-9 came to rest 20m from the bank of the fjord. All passengers and crew evacuated before the plane broke through the ice and sank 20 minutes later.

On February 28, 1984, SAS Flight 901, a DC-10 named 'Haakon Viking' departed Stockholm for a flight to New York JFK. The aircraft touched down 1440m 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 survived and were uninjured.

On December 27, 1991, SAS flight 751, a MD-81, crashed at Gottröra, Sweden. On initial climb both engines ingested ice and stalled, leaving the aircraft with no propulsion. The aircraft made a forced landing in a field and broke in three parts. No fire broke out and all aboard the plane survived.

The worst SAS accident occurred in 2001 in Milan, Italy, when an MD-87 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.

See also

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
[v]·[ d]·[ e]
  Members of the Star Alliance Air CanadaAir New ZealandANAAsiana AirlinesAustrian Airlinesbmi
LOT Polish AirlinesLufthansaScandinavian AirlinesSingapore AirlinesSouth African Airways
SpanairSwissTAP PortugalThai AirwaysUnited AirlinesUS AirwaysVarig
Regional members: Adria AirwaysBlue1Croatia Airlines
Future members: Air ChinaShanghai Airlines
Former members: Ansett AustraliaMexicana


Lists of Aircraft | Aircraft manufacturers | Aircraft engines | Aircraft engine manufacturers

| Airlines | Air forces | Aircraft weapons | Missiles | Timeline of aviation

 


From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: