Scandinavian Airlines Connect Ltd, also known as SAS Connect, and previously known as ''SAS Ireland'' or ''SAIL'', is an Irish subsidiary of

Scandinavian Airlines Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''SAS'' is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark ...

(SAS), and by extension

SAS Group SAS AB (Scandinavian Airlines System Aktiebolag), trading as SAS Group, is an airline holding company headquartered in the SAS Frösundavik Office Building in Solna Municipality, Sweden. It is the owner of the airlines Scandinavian Airlines and S ...

. The airline exclusively operates flights on behalf of SAS with a fleet of

Airbus A320neo The Airbus A320neo family is a development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus. The A320neo family (''neo'' for "new engine option") is based on the previous A319, A320 and A321 ( enhanced variant), which was then ren ...

aircraft.

History

SAS set up its Ireland-based subsidiary in early 2017 and expected it to be operational by 1 November 2017. Initially, the airline was expected to be equipped with nine brand new

; five aircraft to commence flights out of London Heathrow, and later from

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

in spring 2018, with the remaining four aircraft on behalf of its parent company. SAS' intention was to replace its own aircraft with cheaper ones crewed and based outside Scandinavia to compete better with other airlines. The airline did not intend to employ its own staff, which was instead carried out by CAE, an aviation recruitment firm. CAE subsequently began the employment of the back end personnel in 2017. The Swedish Pilots Union expressed its dissatisfaction with the operational structure of the new airline, suggesting it violates the current labour-agreements. The union also lamented the lack of coverage in Scandinavian media. The Swedish Cabin Crew Union also condemned the new venture and stated that SAS established the airline to "not pay decent salaries" to cabin crew.

Jonas Sjöstedt Jonas Sjöstedt (born 25 December 1964) is a Swedish politician who was the chairman of the Left Party from 2012 until 2020, and a former metalworker. He is also a member of the Swedish parliament since 2010. Sjöstedt was born in Gothenburg ...

, the former leader of the Swedish Left Party told a newspaper that the government of Sweden would have to stop the establishment of the new airline, but the Swedish minister for enterprise,

Mikael Damberg Lars Mikael Damberg (born 13 October 1971) is a Swedish politician of the Social Democratic Party. He served as Minister for Finance from 2021 to 2022. He previously served as Minister for Enterprise from October 2014 to January 2019 and as minis ...

told the same paper that "it is not an issue for the owner if the company decides to open bases abroad". Citing delivery delays, SAS Ireland had to delay its launch until December 2017. The first revenue flight took place on 20 December 2017 from

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

to London Heathrow. In the summer of 2018, many flights intended to be operated by SAS Ireland were either cancelled or operated by the parent. At the same time, 26 pilots at SAS Ireland sent a letter to the corporate governance at

criticizing working conditions and safety levels. The chief instructor at SAS Ireland resigned after being criticized for having safety standards which were too high. During the brief period that the airline had been operating, they experienced the leave of a number of pilots with most of the ones that were still employed were actively looking for new employment. In April 2020, SAS Ireland announced the closure of its Málaga base. In May 2021, it was announced that SAS Ireland would set up a base in Copenhagen, initially operating a fleet of 3-5 A320neo aircraft. SAS and the Danish union FPU (a part of the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions or FH) have signed a new collective bargaining agreement for pilots and cabin crew. In September 2021, SAS announced that SAS Ireland would be renamed SAS Connect, and later reported that operations based in Copenhagen would launch in early 2022.

Destinations

Fleet

The SAS Connect fleet consists of the following aircraft :

References

External links

{{Star Alliance Scandinavian Airlines Airlines of the Republic of Ireland Airlines established in 2017 SAS Group members Star Alliance affiliate members Irish companies established in 2017 Companies based in Dublin (city)