At the start of the pandemic we saw several airlines file for bankruptcy protection, given the unprecedented challenges the industry faced. With global travel quickly recovering, you’d think things would be better for airlines again, but that’s not the case across the board.
Continue reading: Scandinavian Airlines Files For Bankruptcy Protection
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
SAS is now like Alitalia's long demise saga. At some point the three governments are going to make the decision to pull the funding and cut it loose. Could this be Lufthansa's opportunity?
The combined population of the Nordic-Scandic-Finn-Baltic countries is not large at about 30 million; a consolidation of Icelandair, Finnair, Air Baltic, and SAS could be a solution, leaving Norwegian as the low cost carrier.
This was a long time coming. Who imagined cutting almost half of its international network would work brilliantly. Off course concentrating on just China and North America would be prone to huge market externalities, beyond that going from covering several dozens of countries in Europe to just a few in Western Europe and Italy and Greece in south! It was years of self inflicted wounds and loosing many of their own key frequent flyer members, like me as we were disillusioned by how rapidly our choices of destinations diminished
Why does the U.S. make it easy for foreign companies to file bankruptcy here? How exactly does the United States benefit?
The Scandinavian countries are high wealth. They should be able to support a full service carrier for those that want to pay for a premium cabin with global connections
The US is much more focused on providing an opportunity for companies to RESTRUCTURE and continue operations by working with creditors in many countries bankruptcy means insolvent and the company will be dissolved.
The US gains by making the US stronger in the global financial and corporate system as well as by helping protect US interests.
SAS, like a lot of European Airlines, has completely abandoned Boeing. Airbus was and is nothing more than a European prestige project. Yet, SAS wants to use the US court system. How ungrateful.
The passenger experience in coach can't get much worse. What are they going to do don't hand out water and charge for meals? The Planes are nice but most of the FA's can be so rude that I would almost rather fly American across the pond.
Italy and the Scandinavian nations are all very wealthy, but the dynamics for their national airlines are really quite different. So it's unfair to compare them. Alitalia was nothing short of a basketcase. A real sinkhole for corruption and gross inefficiency (Thai Airways is the same). SAS on the other hand is not; but it does suffer a lot from geographic disadvantage and a smaller customer base (not to mention increasing competition).
"Interestingly enough, he was only appointed as CEO of SAS in 2021, and he was previously the CEO of Avianca, where he lead the process of the airline filing for Chapter 11 in May 2020."
where he "led" the process...
That's not a good comparison to be honest, Alitalia suffered from a multitude of issues like increased domestic train travel in particular high speed rail replacing a lot of the traditional flights from Rome or Milan airports, a very fickle market that is leisure focused with business travel being a smaller portion of the market, and Alitalia having labor relations issues. SAS has the labor relations issue but not to the same extent and Scandinavia is a pretty good balanced business and leisure market. The issue comes from it being funded by three different countries who all have different views on the airline. Denmark sees it as their flag carrier and a matter of national pride and prestige due to it holding SAS largest hub. Norway and Sweden are more ambivalent on the airline and more hesitant to give cash infusions to the company. And who would prefer restructuring of debt first before moving forward. There is in my opinion no need to consolidate the Nordic and Baltic airlines into one company as each airline serves a purpose in their region and markets they serve and each country has unique needs that probably wouldn't be best served by one airline servicing the Nordic region.
Lol blame your country not SAS. So sad that boeing lost competitive edge?
Prestige project?
Cry me a river. Boeing commercial can’t probably exist without being part of military industrial complex. Boeing customer is the largest murderer in the world that claimed it is doing so in the name of “human rights”.
Also, i guess you’re a pro-capitalist anti anything that smelled socialism, right? Remember, capitalist will sell you the rope that others will use to hang you.
This is the most ignorant statement. How does having an Airbus fleet, which probably better fits there operation requirements, has anything to do with them using US court for bankruptcy???
I honestly wonder, assuming we end up in a recession by the end of the year, if we’ll see a major carrier offer a true intercontinental Basic J fare. You get the flat bed, IFE, carry-on, and non-alcoholic drinks. Everything else has a fee. I hope it doesn’t happen, but I think that is how carriers will go after savings made on leisure and lower spend business people in J. True higher spend J travelers will pay for the traditional fare with checked bags, lounge, meals, alcohol, amenity kits etc.
These days I would gladly opt for that. Lounges are crowded, food is awful and all I care about is a seat where I can catch some sleep. Exactly why I opt for late night departures that I just get on board, swig some water, and collapse asleep the second I can lay flat. It's time airlines reward those who are willing to accept low maintenance in exchange for cheaper business fares. Just like they learned with domestic, if they would price them just a tad higher than last minute economy they might actually sell them instead of giving them away with upgrades.
Given the company is based in Scandinavia, does a process run by a US court have any impact on its operations back at the headwaters?
Come on. Grow up. I doubt the main reason US-based Airlines buy Airbus is because of the more prestigious / better brand image of Airbus. They just run the maths, select the best plane for their needs and negotiate in the interest of the company, not some patriotic non-sense.
This is a called an open business world. If a company wants to register in Ireland or the Bermuda or use the US specific legal systems, they are free to do so.
Cutting costs is easy enough, especially when you consider the salaries of the exact persons on strike now.
It is the elephant in the room for the majority of European carriers, but the flight & cabin crew costs are just way too high.
But only that they won't, see where EK and QR have taken such fares to, the basic no frills will now replace the old base line and everything else priced further up. Its naive to believe airlines will return the savings to customers.
Everyone just should work for poverty wages. Want to make more money get a side gig that is where the world is going.
Deep off-topic here. Everybody's poo stinks, SingaporeNo1. Where do you think RSAF gets their jets? You know.. the ones that buzz the island on a near daily basis.
With that said, I agree with you that Kenneth S is being a tool. Airbus took risks with the A380 and the A350 is excellent. Their planes are straight nice. Prestige project indeed.
Boeing doesn't take risks, and sucks at building the "safe options." ;P
Italy’ national debt is 150% of its GDP 5 times more than DK and SE, its a poor country with one of the worse economies in EU.
Biggest issue with SAS is it focus is on the business segment, that’s why Covid hit them really hard, and then the wages in Scandinavia you have to have a high income to pay the taxes we do.
A normal 1. Class fare with BA to US is cheaper then SAS subpar business class, service in Scandinavia is a city in Russia, customer service is really bad compared to other airlines.
A national flight to AAR with SAS is often 2 or 3 times the price of a longer flight to AAL with Norwegian.
A joke to sum up SAS service and Scandinavian hospitality.
3 couples UK, US and DK is having breakfast.
UK man to wife, please pass me the sucker, Sucker
US man to wife, please pass me the honey, Honey.
DK man to wife, give me the bacon, Swine
Italy is wealthier than the Scandics. Milan is the 3rd richest city, full of industry and billionaires ready to pay top dollar on global connections in premium cabins on a full service carrier. Alitalia decided to focus on Rome and that was its problem, not to mention the inefficiency.
Alitalia had very similar problems to SAS like labour issues and sparse network.
The only difference was the inefficiency of Rome and mismanagement.
Italy is NOT a fickle market based on leisure. First of all, it's a huge market with 60 million people. It is the 4th biggest aviation market in the world, far exceeding France and the UK.
Milan is the 3rd richest European city and it's market is 80% business. So no, Italy has a business-heavy market and Milan is the ideal location for a hub.
Italy also has huge multinational corporations and 10 of the top 100 most capitalized companies in Europe and world leaders. It's massive, and the objective force of Italy is huge.
Please get your facts right.
Italy is not poor. Italy is rich.
France also has extremely high debt but also has Air France, so what is your point ?!
Italy is NOT a fickle market based on leisure. First of all, it's a huge market with 60 million people. It is the 4th biggest aviation market in the world, far exceeding France and the UK. Italy's economy is better than France and growing faster.
Milan is the 3rd richest European city and it's market is 80% business. So no, Italy has a business-heavy market and Milan is the ideal location for a hub.
Italy also has huge multinational corporations and 10 of the top 100 most capitalized companies in Europe and world leaders. It's massive, and the objective force of Italy is huge.
So yes Italy and Milan (with 15 million rich people) can absolutely support a national premium airline.
Italy is high wealth too. Huge, great companies, Milan has a catchment area of 15 million people and it's the richest and most important city after London & Paris.
Also, Milan's geography is superior to Rome, Paris, Copenhagen, and even Zurich.
Northern Italians, as well as tourists and foreigners with all the events and business activity in Northern Italy can absolutely support a full service carrier on global long haul connections.
Milan demand is 90% business, premium, and point to point.