Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The Transformation And Development Of Scandinavian Airlines

By Lex Simian Xavier


Scandinavian Airlines was formed shortly after the end of World War 2, by combining the efforts of several airlines and a private investor from Sweden. With the demand for international travel on the rise an alliance of like-minded aviation interests was just what they needed. With the end of the war the airways were once again safe for flying. Once the company was created, the flight operations in the European skies took place. Using the existing fleet assets and infrastructure helped. With new alliances formed there was a dedicated effort to provide quality service.

The year 2006 yielded 42 billion Swedish Krona, or SEK for SAS. In 2006 alone, they carried over 25 million domestic and international travelers. That statistic earned the company a place on the list of the top 10 in Europe and coming in at number nine. A large part of that success was due to smart mergers and acquisitions for SAS. Among other things, they are a founding member of the aviation consortium known as the Star Alliance Group. SAS was willing to join forces with many other airlines in the past 50 plus years, and that strategy has paid off.

All airlines seem to have one thing in common, and that is a highly dynamic investor and ownership portfolio. But that is really not too surprising when you consider the difficulties with financial operations. So once more, in the 1990s, Scandinavian Airlines went through more ownership changes and restructuring of their financial investment holdings. Nevertheless, this didn't stop SAS from adding other airlines to its acquisitions. They also bought 95% of Spanair, the 2nd largest airline in Spain, and Air Greenland. An agreement was reached with a Catalonian group in 2009 for SAS to divest more than 80% of its holdings in Spanair.

This network of global airlines was part of a long term strategy that culminated in the formation of the alliance. Subsequently, in 2001, there was a huge reformation resulting in SAS ownership being divided up among three Scandinavian countries, plus public ownership via stocks. Sweden, Denmark and Norway are the three countries that are mixed up in this. Yet the shareholding of public stocks by the company stays at 50%.

The current state of affairs for Scandinavian Airlines finds them continuing in the tradition of a global air passenger carrier. Internationally, SAS has long-distance routes that cover destinations in North America and Asia. Their two main hubs in Stockholm and Copenhagen are the launching points for most of their international travelers. The international division of the airlines is known as Scandinavian Airlines International, not surprisingly, and the number of employees is a little under 1,000. This International Division operates separately from the Denmark, Sweden, and Norway European traffic divisions.

It is clear that the vigorous acquisition efforts of Scandinavian Airlines has paid off over the years. They were instrumental in the creation of the global Star Alliance group of airlines during the 90s. To increase the capabilities of each airline, such business alliances exist to provide extra financial security. Air and aviation are hyper competitive, therefore, there is strength in numbers. The divisions that make up the SAS since the 90's are Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. SAS Global is the international flight division.

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