Transwede Airways AB, was a
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
charter and later also scheduled
airline
An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...
operating between 1985 and 1998. Based at
Stockholm Arlanda Airport
Stockholm Arlanda Airport is an international airport located in the Sigtuna Municipality of Sweden, near the town of Märsta, north of Stockholm and nearly south-east of Uppsala. The airport is located within Stockholm County and the prov ...
, Transwede initially flew
Sud Aviation Caravelle
The Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle is a French jet airliner produced by Sud Aviation.
It was developed by SNCASE in the early 1950s and made its maiden flight on 27 May 1955.
It included some de Havilland designs and components developed for t ...
s and from 1987 also
McDonnell Douglas MD-80
The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gene ...
s. Most charter services were
inclusive tour
A package tour, package vacation, or package holiday comprises transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided such as a rental car, activities or outings during the ho ...
flights to the Mediterranean.
The first scheduled services were from
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
to
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in 1991. After the Swedish domestic market was
deregulated
Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
the following year, Transwede variously started services from Stockholm to
Visby
Visby () is an urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants . Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic city of Visby is arguably th ...
,
Umeå
Umeå ( , , , locally ; South Westrobothnian: ;). fi, Uumaja; sju, Ubmeje; sma, Upmeje; se, Ubmi) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County.
Situated on the Ume River, Umeà ...
,
Luleå
Luleå ( , , locally ; smj, Luleju; fi, Luulaja) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban core (2018) and is the seat of Lu ...
,
Sundsvall
Sundsvall () is a city and the seat of Sundsvall Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It has a population of 58,807 as of 2020; more than 95,000 live in the municipal area. It is Sweden's 21st largest city by population.
History
Th ...
,
Malmö
Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...
and
Halmstad
Halmstad () is a port, university, industrial and recreational city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Socia ...
. From 1993 the domestic services were conducted using
Fokker 100
The Fokker 100 is a regional jet produced by Fokker in the Netherlands.
The Fokker 100 is based on the Fokker F28 with a fuselage stretched by to seat up to 109 passengers, up from 85.
It is powered by two newer Rolls-Royce Tay turbofans, an ...
aircraft. The airline had about a 13-percent domestic market share in Sweden.
The airline was split up in 1996, following a period of losses. The charter division was sold to
Fritidsresor, who renamed the airline Blue Scandinavia. Via a series of purchases this has since 2006 been called
TUIfly Nordic
TUI fly Nordic is a charter airline headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, and is a part of the TUI Group. It operates short, medium and long-haul flights to leisure destinations from several airports in the Nordic countries, on behalf of the tour ...
. The scheduled division was bought by Norwegian carrier
Braathens SAFE
Braathens ASA, until 1997 Braathens South American & Far East Airtransport A/S and trading as Braathens SAFE, was a Norwegian airline which operated from 1946 until it merged with Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) in 2004 to become SAS Braathens. Fo ...
, who renamed the two airlines Braathens from 1998, integrating Transwede's operations into their own.
History
Establishment and early years
![Transwede Caravelle LN-BSE](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Transwede_Caravelle_LN-BSE.jpg)
Transwede was founded on 1 April 1985
in
Växjö
Växjö ( ) is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 70,489 inhabitants (2019) out of a municipal population of 95,995 (2021). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial centre of Kronoberg County ...
by Thomas Johansen, who was also the company's first president. He had previously founded regional airline
Swedair
Swedair AB was a Swedish regional airline that existed from 1935 to 1994. It was founded as Svensk Flygtjänst AB by Tor Eliasson, who was CEO until his death in 1971. The companies last manageing director was Lars svanstrom
History
Crownair S ...
. Johansen intended to fill the gap created after the last Swedish inclusive tour charter operator,
Transair Sweden
Transair Sweden AB (ICAO: TB) was a Swedish charter airline that operated until 1981.
History
Transair Sweden began as Nordisk Aerotransport AB in 1950 with the purpose of flying newspapers from Stockholm to other locations in Sweden using Air ...
, ceased operations in 1979. Initially the airline bought two 109-seat
Sud Aviation Super Caravelles and was contracted by Royal Tours. The airline moved its main base to Stockholm Arlanda Airport the following year. It bought the tour operator Royal Tours in November 1986 in order to secure access to 200,000 annual charter passengers.
Within a year the airline bought two McDonnell Douglas MD-83 aircraft to supplement its Caravelles. There were among others used from 1987 on a charter service from Stockholm via
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
, Norway, and
Gander, Canada, to
Fort Lauderdale
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
in the United States. The Oslo to Gander leg was the longest MD-80 revenue leg in the world. By 1990 the fleet was substantially increased, adding a
Boeing 737-200
The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington.
Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...
, two
Boeing 737-300
The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft.
Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Febru ...
s, two
MD-87
The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gener ...
s and bringing the number of MD-83s up to four.
Scheduled operations
At the time
Linjeflyg
Linjeflyg was a Swedish domestic airline, formed in 1957 as a domestic subsidiary by Scandinavian Airlines System and Airtaco as well as by newspaper publishers Dagens Nyheter AB and Stockholms-Tidningen AB.
History
Airtaco (founded in August ...
and its parent
Scandinavian Airlines System
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) controlled virtually all domestic air traffic in Sweden, based on a monopoly granted through a series of government concessions. Transwede started working against this system in 1989, when they applied to operate a direct service from
Göteborg Landvetter Airport
Göteborg Landvetter Airport () is an international airport serving the Gothenburg (Swedish: ''Göteborg'') region in Sweden. With just over 6.8 million passengers in 2018 it is Sweden's second-largest airport after Stockholm–Arlanda. Landvette ...
to
Sundsvall Airport and
Skellefteå Airport
Skellefteå Airport , is located about 17 km from Skellefteå, Västerbotten, Sweden. Skellefteå Airport is ranked as one of ten largest airports in Sweden in terms of domestic flights.
Airlines and destinations
The following airlines opera ...
. This would require the airline to buy smaller
turboprop
A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller.
A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. Fuel ...
aircraft. This did not hinder Linjeflyg and Transwede from cooperating in other areas, with the former
wet leasing Caravelles and MD-80s when in need. Transwede also signed an agreement with the
Swedish Armed Forces
The Swedish Armed Forces ( sv, Försvarsmakten, "the Defense Force") is the government agency that forms the armed forces of Sweden, tasked with the defense of the country as well as with promoting Sweden's wider interests, supporting internati ...
to operate the first domestic charter service in Sweden, twice weekly from Gothenburg to
Luleå Airport
Luleå Airport is located about 7 km (4.3 mi) south-southeast of Luleå, Sweden, near the village of Kallax. The airport had a total of 1,177,443 passengers in 2015, and is thus Sweden's fifth largest airport. It is the largest airport ...
. They subsequently applied to operate the route as a twice-daily scheduled flight. The airline had a revenue of 800 million kronor in 1989, but failed to make a profit. Chairman Lars Svenheim replaced Thomas Johansson as CEO in May 1990.
![Transwede MD-87 SE-DHI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Transwede_MD-87_SE-DHI.jpg)
Transwede applied in June 1990 to operate a scheduled service from Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö to
London Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after Hea ...
. International routes out of Scandinavia had since the 1940s been the domain of
Scandinavian Airlines System
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 ...
, but in 1990 the Danish authorities granted domestic carrier
Maersk Air
(), also known simply as Maersk (), is a Danish shipping company, active in ocean and inland freight transportation and associated services, such as supply chain management and port operation. Maersk was the largest container shipping line a ...
the right to start a Gatwick service out of Copenhagen. Transwede used this as leverage to secure itself a similar right out of the Swedish capital. Transwede started the service eight times per week, using a single-class MD-83, offering prices 32 percent below SAS and
British Airways
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
.
Meanwhile,
Sterling Airways
Sterling Airlines A/S was a low-cost airline with its head office at Copenhagen Airport South in Dragør, Dragør Municipality, Denmark. It was created in September 2005 through the merger of two Danish airlines — Sterling European Airli ...
's owner TransNordic Group bought a 33-percent stake in Transwede. They had bought a similar stake in
Norway Airlines, who had received concession to operate an Oslo to Gatwick route. In addition to the London routes, the three airlines aimed at starting services on the lucrative "capital triangle" between the three Scandinavian capitals. Within a year Transwede was flying three daily flights to London and had captured a 29-percent market share.
The partnership lasted until April 1993.
Transwede's interests shifted in 1992, following the merger between SAS and the main Swedish domestic carrier,
Linjeflyg
Linjeflyg was a Swedish domestic airline, formed in 1957 as a domestic subsidiary by Scandinavian Airlines System and Airtaco as well as by newspaper publishers Dagens Nyheter AB and Stockholms-Tidningen AB.
History
Airtaco (founded in August ...
. Due to their concessionary monopolies, the new airline would receive a 97-percent domestic market share. Meanwhile, this opened for deregulation of the domestic air carrier market.
The same year Leif Lundin replaced Lars Svenheim as CEO. This only lasted until December, when Lundin was replaced by Christer Petrén.
The airline's first domestic scheduled service commenced on 22 July 1992, between Stockholm and
Visby Airport
Visby Airport , is located about north of Visby, Gotland, Sweden.
Visby airport is Gotland's only commercial airport and the 12th largest airport in Sweden. The airport had 463,616 passengers in 2016. The traffic has a large seasonal variation ...
, serving the island of
Gotland
Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...
. This was followed in July with flights from Stockholm to
Malmö Airport
Malmö Airport, until 2007 known as ''Sturup Airport'' ( sv, Sturups flygplats) is Sweden's fourth busiest airport, handling 1,975,479 passengers in 2019. The airport is located in Svedala Municipality, approximately east of Malmö and south ...
, on 7 August to
Umeå Airport
Umeå Airport is an airport located on the southern outskirts of the city of Umeå, Sweden. As of 2019, it is the seventh-largest airport in Sweden. It had 960,351 passengers in 2019.
By road, the airport is located about from Umeå city centre. ...
.
In August Transwede started an
interlining
Interlining, also known as interline ticketing and interline booking, is a voluntary commercial agreement between individual airlines to handle passengers traveling on itineraries that require multiple flights on multiple airlines. Such agreement ...
cooperation with
Finnair
Finnair ( fi, Finnair Oyj, sv, Finnair Abp) is the flag carrier and largest airline of Finland, with its headquarters in Vantaa on the grounds of Helsinki Airport, its hub. Finnair and its subsidiaries dominate both domestic and internationa ...
, whereby the two coordinated their timetables and fed passengers into each other's networks.
![Fokker 100 (F-28-0100), Transwede Airways AN0069456](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Fokker_100_%28F-28-0100%29%2C_Transwede_Airways_AN0069456.jpg)
The first scheduled route to be terminated took place in October 1992, with the closing of the Visby route.
The other main newcomer on the market,
Malmö Aviation
Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal popu ...
, gave up its routes from Malmö to London in early 1993, and Transwede took over the concession from April 1993.
It followed up on 9 May with commencing a scheduled service from
Halmstad Airport
Halmstad Airport , also known as Halmstad City Airport, is an airport situated northwest of Halmstad, a city in the Halmstad Municipality of Halland County, Sweden. The airport has been managed by Halmstad Municipality since 2006.
Halmstad Airpo ...
to Stockholm, with three daily round trips.
Sundsvall to Stockholm commenced services on 19 September.
As the airline regarded the MD-80s as too large for domestic services, they leased five 107-seat
Fokker 100
The Fokker 100 is a regional jet produced by Fokker in the Netherlands.
The Fokker 100 is based on the Fokker F28 with a fuselage stretched by to seat up to 109 passengers, up from 85.
It is powered by two newer Rolls-Royce Tay turbofans, an ...
s, with an
option for two more.
The options were effectuated to allow Transwede to start services from Stockholm to
Jönköping
Jönköping (, ) is a city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland.
The city is the seat of Jönköping Municipali ...
from 25 March 1994.
The two MD-87s were subsequently leased out.
In order to avoid another competitor on the Jönköping route, Transwede bought the new entrant
Falcon Aviation who planned to start that route as well.
Transwede and SAS signed an interlining agreement in February 1994 to allow through tickets to be bought on multi-legged flights with both airlines. Weeks later Transwede announced a cooperation with Lufthansa, whereby the two would provide similar arrangements for flights between Sweden and Germany. For SAS-executive Lars Bergvall replaced Petrén as CEO in late 1994. By the end of 1994, the airline had captured about 30 percent market share on those routes it flew, with a record 36 percent on the Stockholm to Luleå run.
Although revenue increased from 1.2 billion kronor in 1993 to 2.0 billion in 1994, the airline ended with a deficit both years of about 300 million. The most costly route was to Malmö, and the airline thus chose to terminate it from January 1995.
Meanwhile, the established a route from Umeå to
Gällivare Airport
Gällivare (; fi, Jällivaara; se, Jiellevárri or ; smj, Jiellevárre or ; fit, Jellivaara) is a locality and the seat of Gällivare Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 8,449 inhabitants in 2010. The town was ...
, which the subcontracted to
Air Nordic using a
Fokker F-27
The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Europe ...
.
Splitting up
While the airline succeeded at a near break-even on scheduled services, it saw huge losses in the charter market, largely driven by overcapacity in the market. For instance, Transwede lost 100 million kronor in the first five months of 1995. This followed a fleet downsizing that year reducing the airline's charter division to five MD-83s and two MD-87s.
Jan Carlzon
Jan Gösta Carlzon, né ''Karlsson'' (born 25 June 1941) is a Swedish businessman. He is most noted for being chief executive officer of SAS Group from 1981 to 1994.Jan Carlzon interview with Bob Thompson, ''CustomerThink.com'', March 7, 200/ref> ...
was hired as chairman in early 1995, and immediately set about to reorganize the airline. It was divided into three
business unit
A strategic business unit (SBU) in business strategic management, is a profit center which focuses on product offering and market segment. SBUs typically have a discrete marketing plan, analysis of competition, and marketing campaign, even though ...
s, which became separate companies. Ownership of the charter division passed to Nordpool, a grouping of inclusive tour operators. The remainder of Transwede was partially bought by Nordic Capital.
Ownership of the charter division, initially named Transwede Leisure, soon passed to the major Swedish tour operator Fritidsresor. The charter airline was subsequently renamed Blue Scandianvia. It was bought by
Thomson Travel Group
Thomson Travel Group plc was a business formed by the Thomson Corporation of Canada, when it was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1998. It was acquired by Preussag AG, an industrial and transport conglomerate, in 2000. The group continu ...
and has since been transformed into TUIfly Nordic.
Braathens SAFE
Braathens ASA, until 1997 Braathens South American & Far East Airtransport A/S and trading as Braathens SAFE, was a Norwegian airline which operated from 1946 until it merged with Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) in 2004 to become SAS Braathens. Fo ...
, the largest domestic carrier in Norway, entered negotiations in 1996 to purchase Transwede from its owners, Transpool.
The purchase of Transwede was confirmed on 25 June;
Braathens SAFE bought 50% of the company's scheduled division, Transwede Airways, with an option to purchase the rest in 1997. The companies planned to integrate their networks, to allow connection between Braathens SAFE's and Transwede flights at Stockholm.
Braathens SAFE started flights from their main hub at
Oslo Airport, Fornebu
Oslo Airport, Fornebu ( no, Oslo lufthavn, Fornebu), was the primary international airport serving Oslo and Eastern Norway from 1 June 1939 to 7 October 1998. It was then replaced by Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, and the area has since been redevelo ...
to Stockholm on 6 November After three months, the airline had captured 14% of the Oslo–Stockholm market. SAS operated fifteen flights per day, while Braathens only had seven on a route which was regarded as one of SAS' most profitable.
Transwede started replacing its Fokker 100s with Boeing 737-300 in 1997. Braathens SAFE was criticized by the
Norwegian Airline Pilots Association
The Norwegian Airline Pilots Association ( no, Norsk Flygerforbund, NF) is a trade union of civil airline pilots in Norway.
It was established as a merger in 1977. It has about 850 members, and has its headquarters in Drammensveien at Skillebekk, ...
because it was using retired Braathens SAFE pilots to fly Transwede aircraft, due to Transwede not having certified pilots for their new Boeing 737-300. Braathens SAFE stated that this was within the rules of the
Swedish Civil Aviation Administration
:''"Luftfartsverket" is also the former Swedish name for the Finnish air navigation service provider, Finavia''
The Swedish Civil Aviation Administration ( sv, Luftfartsverket) is a Swedish Government agency which regulated and oversaw all aspec ...
and the
Joint Aviation Authorities
The Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) was an associated body of the European Civil Aviation Conference representing the civil aviation regulatory authorities of a number of European States who had agreed to co-operate in developing and implementin ...
.
Braathens SAFE bought the remaining half of Transwede on 18 December 1997, paying 2 kronor. In addition came 13 million in converted debt. With the take-over, the company changed its name to Braathens Sverige AB. At the same time, management announced that they planned to replace all the company's Fokker 100s with 737-300s.
Fleet
Destinations
The following is a list of scheduled destinations served by Transwede.
Accidents and incidents
![Transwede Caravelle SE-DEC](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Transwede_Caravelle_SE-DEC.jpg)
On 6 January 1987 a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle 10R (SE-DEC) crashed at Stockholm Arlanda Airport. Immediately after take-off, at an altitude of , a fault with the
elevator
An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...
caused the nose to pitch down and the aircraft to land hard. The aircraft subsequently slid off the runway and bust into fire. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair. None of the six crew members and twenty-one passengers were killed.
References
{{Braathens
Defunct airlines of Sweden
Airlines established in 1985
Airlines disestablished in 1998
Swedish companies established in 1985
Swedish companies disestablished in 1998