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Scandinavian Airlines System 60TH Anniversary
In 2006 SAS is celebrating its 60th anniversary. On December 16, 1946, a 28-seat Douglas DC-4 propliner took off for the first SAS flight from Stockholm to New York. To celebrate the first 60 years of activity, SAS decided to paint a freshly delivered Airbus A 319 with the colour scheme used during the ‘Fifties.
Scandinavian Airlines System, today SAS Group, was formed on July 31, 1946, after prolonged negotiations, integrating three national carriers, DDL (Det Danske Luftfartselskab) of Denmark, ABA (AB Aerotransport) of Sweden and DNL (Det Norske Luftfartselskab) of Norway. DDL and DNL each hold two-sevenths of the capital and ABA three-sevenths. DDL had started activity with a Copenhagen-Berlin route using Junkers F.13 seaplanes on August 7, 1920. With the same type of aircraft, ABA had inaugurated its first flight Stockholm-Helsinki on June 2, 1924, while DNL began services from Oslo on April 15, 1928.
For a while – after the integration - the three partner airlines continued to operate European and regional flights under their own brands. A final agreement was signed on February 8, 1951, uniting the whole consortium under a centralized management. The three participating airlines became non-operating holding companies and SAS took over their fleets and their European and domestic routes. From its inception, SAS expanded progressively its network, both at international and domestic level. On December 29, 1946, a scheduled service to Buenos Aires was opened, and the New York flight was put on a daily basis in June 1947. Other significant milestones were the first flight to Bangkok (October 26, 1949) and to Johannesburg (January 8, 1953).
By this time DC-6s and the first few DC-6Bs had replaced DC-4s on the main routes, while twin-engine Saab 60A Scandias had supplemented older DC-3s on the shorter routes. Large British-made Short Sandringham flying boats and seaplane variant of the German-made Junkers Ju.52 three-engine aircraft assured domestic air connections across the Norwegian coast.
SAS pioneered the Great Circle routes over the Arctic from Europe to the US west coast. To evaluate and practise Polar navigation techniques, during 1952-54 the airline used the delivery flights (from Long Beach, in California) of its 14 Douglas DC-6B propliners. The very first Polar service from Copenhagen to Los Angeles was inaugurated by SAS in 1954. The DC-6B took off on November 15, made refuelling stops at Søndre Strømfjord in Greenland west coast and Winnipeg in Canada, and landed at Los Angeles on November 16, saving about ten hours over the previous route via New York. Three years later, on February 24, 1957, SAS also inaugurated a Copenaghen-Tokyo trans-Polar route via Anchorage (Alaska) using newer DC-7C, the last piston-engined airliner of the Douglas dinasty.
From mid ‘Fifties, modern Convair 440s had replaced the Scandias and older types on European and domestic routes. On May 15, 1959, SAS entered the jet-age, introducing the French-made Caravelle twin-engine medium-range airliner on the Copenhagen-Cairo service. Less then one year later, SAS long-range routes began transition to jet-aircraft too. On May 1, 1960, four-engine Douglas DC-8 went on to the New York route. In 1958 an agreement with Swissair was signed providing for joint technical and operational cooperation. KLM and UTA of France joined the initiative later, thus forming the KSSU group which remained active for about two decades.
In 1965 SAS was the very first airline implementing an electronic booking system. In September 1967 the airline received its first DC-9 airliner - McDonnell Douglas developed two versions of the DC-9 according to SAS requirements - and, in March 1971, the first Boeing B.747 wide-body was delivered. During the following years SAS acquired new types such as DC-10, Airbus A 300 and Boeing B.767.
In May 1997 SAS was a founding member of Star Alliance, together with Air Canada, Lufthansa, Thai Airways International and United Airlines. In June 2001 the ownership structure of SAS was modified, with a holding company – SAS AB – being formed in which the governments of Sweden, Denmark and Norway hold 21.4%, 14.3% and 14.3% respectively, and the remaining 50% is traded on the public stock excange. In 2004-2005 SAS was the first airline to offer high-speed internet access on its long-range fleet and the first carrier to introduce one-way fares for all its European flights.
Today the SAS Group, third European carrier for number of passengers, offers a global network of routes to 147 destinations in Europe, Far East (Bangkok, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo) and North America (New York, Washington DC, Seattle, Chicago). SAS is present in the shareholding of others air operators such as Blue 1 - Finland (100%), Scandinavian Airlines Sweden (100%), Scandinavian Airlines Denmark (100%), Braathens Sweden (100%), SAS Braathens - Norway (100%), Widerøe Flyveselskap – Norway (100%), SAS Cargo (100%), Spanair – Spain (94.9%), Estonian Air (49%), Air Baltic – Latvia (47.2%), Air Greenland – Denmark (37.5%), Skyways Holding – Sweden (25%) and BMI – United Kingdom (20%). The SAS fleet, including subsidiaries, is formed by 294 aircraft which – in 2005 - carried about 35 million passengers.
(With the collaboration of TT&A - Theodore Trancu & Associates, Milan)
In the picture: Airbus A 319-132 OY-KBO “Kristian Valdemar Viking” of SAS painted with the ‘Fifties livery. (SAS)
