SAS Braathens


SAS Braathens was the name of Norway's largest airline, created by a merger between Scandinavian Airlines' Norwegian division and Braathens in 2004. On June 1, 2007, the airline was integrated into mainline SAS, and changed its name to SAS Scandinavian Airlines Norge. The airline operated from its hub at Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, and was also the largest national branch of Scandinavian Airlines. SAS Braathens had its head office in Diamanten on the grounds of Fornebu Airport in Fornebu, Bærum, Norway.
SAS Braathens was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Scandinavian Airlines System Group and was established in the spring of 2004, based on SAS Norway and Braathens. SAS Braathens operated routes in Norway, and also between Norway and the rest of Europe. The airline was the largest in Norway, and had 440 departures daily. SAS Braathens carried around 9 million passengers in 2006. Profit for the first half of 2005 came to NOK 206 million.
SAS Braathens had a route network covering 40 destinations from Longyearbyen in the north to Las Palmas in the south. The route network was operated by a total of 57 aircraft: 51 Boeing 737s and 6 Fokker 50s. Through its parent Scandinavian Airlines, SAS Braathens was a member of the global Star Alliance network. Since it was established in April 2004, SAS Braathens has created or announced a total of 18 new international routes. Around 3,750 employees work for the airline, which is based in Fornebu, close to Oslo.

History

Scandinavian Airlines

Scandinavian Airlines 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. Det Norske Luftfartselskab is the former Norwegian flag carrier which was founded in 1927. The companies embarked on coordination of European operations in 1948 and finally merged to form the current SAS Consortium in 1951. Upon foundation the airline was divided between SAS Danmark, SAS Norge and SAS Sweden, all owned 50% by private investors and 50% by their respective governments. SAS gradually acquired control of the domestic markets in all three countries by acquiring full or partial control of several local 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, Norway and Denmark and the remaining 50% publicly held and traded on the stock market.

Braathens

Braathens was founded on March 26, 1946. For many years, Braathens was known as Braathens S.A.F.E, the latter part being an acronym standing for South American and Far East, for the destinations Braathens originally served. The company was founded by Norwegian ship owner Ludvig G. Braathen, with the intention of serving his ships in other parts of the world. In 2001 Braathens formed an alliance with KLM and Northwest Airlines. Alitalia was supposed to also join that alliance, but later decided not to. Braathens also dropped the SAFE from their name, and the company was known as Braathens until 2004. In 2001, after tough economic times, Braathens was bought by the Scandinavian Airlines System, although they were able to keep operating under their name until SAS Braathens became operative 1 April 2005.

SAS Braathens

The first months of 2006 were marked by conflict, and ill pilots caused several flights to be cancelled. Negotiations between cabin personnel and management failed on 6 April, leading to a strike grounding most of the flights, though a deal between management and the unions ended the strike on April 8.
By 2007 the airline was one of Norway's most prominent companies, but the lack of reliability caused by the number of cancelled and delayed flights has put the airline at the bottom of 140 Norwegian companies ranked by consumer confidence. The April 2006 strike benefitted SAS Braathens' main competitor, Norwegian Air Shuttle.
SAS Braathens CEO Petter Jansen was forced to leave office in June 2006 after disputes with the SAS management in Stockholm, causing much controversy and debate in Norway, since Jensen was leading the only national branch of Scandinavian Airlines that made a profit.
However, in 2007 the airline was rebranded as Scandinavian Airlines itself.

Flight codes

All SAS Braathens flight were operated with the IATA code BU, but all of the SAS Braathens flights were sold and screened at airports as SK flights.

Destinations

As of June 1, 2007 SAS Braathens served 46 destinations, 17 domestic and 29 European destinations.

Fleet

The SAS Braathens fleet included the following aircraft as of June 2012:
ImageAircraftNumberOrdersPassengersTypeNotes
Boeing 737-40040150Short to medium range
Boeing 737-500130120ScandinavianLeased from SAS Scandinavian Airlines
Boeing 737-600130112-116ScandinavianLeased from SAS Scandinavian Airlines
Boeing 737-700172131-141Short to medium range
—Boeing 737-80090150-176Medium range/High density1 in Star Alliance scheme
3 leased from SAS Scandinavain Airlines

Cabin

SAS Braathens operated with three classes on the European business destinations and with two classes on leisure destinations. In April 2007 SAS Braathens upgraded its Economy Extra and Business class. In Economy class they introduced the new buy on board concept "Cloudshop".

Domestic

; One class

Intra-Scandinavia

; Economy Class
; Economy Extra

Europe

; Economy Class
; Economy Extra
; Business

Euro Bonus

SAS Braathens used the SAS EuroBonus frequent flyer program. They also had a membership club for Scandinavians living abroad called Fly Home Club.

Head office

SAS Braathens had its head office in Diamanten on the grounds of Fornebu Airport in Fornebu, Bærum, Norway. In 2010, the main competitor of SAS Braathens, Norwegian Air Shuttle, bought the former Braathens head office at Fornebu Airport.