List of Scandinavian Airlines aircraft
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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), previously known as Scandinavian Airlines System, is the
national airline A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations. Hist ...
of
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...
,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
and
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. Headquartered in Sigtuna outside
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 ...
, Sweden, it operates out of three main hubs,
Copenhagen Airport Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup ( da, Københavns Lufthavn, Kastrup, ; ) is an international airport serving Copenhagen, Denmark, Zealand, the Øresund Region, and southern Sweden including Scania. It is the second largest airport in the Nordic coun ...
, Stockholm-Arlanda Airport and Oslo Airport, Gardermoen. Owned by the eponymous
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 transported 22.9 million passengers to 90 destinations on an average 683 flights daily in 2011. As of February 2021, SAS utilize 164 aircraft—
jetliners A jet airliner or jetliner is an airliner powered by jet engines (passenger jet aircraft). Airliners usually have two or four jet engines; three-engined designs were popular in the 1970s but are less common today. Airliners are commonly clas ...
and
turboprops A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch t ...
—consisting of 64 
Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two un ...
, 28  Bombardier CRJ900 operated by Nordica and Cityjet, 44  Airbus A319/A320/A321, 9  Airbus A330, 8  Airbus A350 and 10 ATR 72's operated by Nordica and FlyBe. In addition there are 2 Bombardier CRJ1000 leased from Air Nostrum. The airline has operated over 700 aircraft throughout its history. It was a loyal customer of
Douglas Aircraft Company The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated as ...
and its successor
McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it produ ...
, operating 290 aircraft and all major models from the DC-3 through the MD-90, except for the MD-11 and the MD-95 (AKA: Boeing 717-200).
Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
is the second-largest manufacturer, with 127 aircraft, of which 105 were 737s. Other manufacturers have been
Fokker Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names. It was founded in 1912 in Berlin, Germany, and became famous for its fighter aircraft in World War I. In 1919 ...
(51 aircraft), Bombardier (40),
Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
(29), Convair (22),
Sud Aviation Sud Aviation (, ''Southern Aviation'') was a French state-owned aircraft manufacturer, originating from the merger of Sud-Est (SNCASE, or ''Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques du sud-est'') and Sud-Ouest (SNCASO or ''Société n ...
(21), Saab (14),
Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...
(9),
ATR ATR may refer to: Medicine * Acute transfusion reaction * Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related, a protein involved in DNA damage repair Science and mathematics * Advanced Test Reactor, nuclear research reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory, ...
(6),
British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...
(3),
British Aircraft Corporation The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd., Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Hunting Aircraft in 1 ...
(2),
Junkers Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG (JFM, earlier JCO or JKO in World War I, English: Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works) more commonly Junkers , was a major German aircraft and aircraft engine manufacturer. It was founded there in Dessau, Germ ...
(2) and Shorts (2). SAS has been the launch customer of the
Saab Scandia The Saab 90 Scandia was a civil passenger aeroplane, manufactured by the Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget ( SAAB), in Linköping, Sweden. In 1944, as it was becoming clear that hostilities in Europe (the Second World War) would soon be at an end, ...
, the
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 ...
, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-20 and -40 and the
Boeing 737-600 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a narrow-body aircraft powered by two jet engines and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third generation derivative of the Boeing ...
. SAS was the sole customer of the DC-9-20; the DC-9-40 served SAS for 34 years—longer than any other model. Fourteen aircraft have been involved in
hull-loss accidents A hull loss is an aviation accident that catastrophically damages the aircraft beyond economical repair, resulting in a total loss. The term also applies to situations in which the aircraft is missing, the search for their wreckage is terminated ...
, four of which were fatal. SAS started as a cooperation between
Norwegian Air Lines Det Norske Luftfartselskap A/S (literally "The Norwegian Aviation Company") or DNL, trading internationally as Norwegian Air Lines, was an airline and flag carrier of Norway. Founded in 1927, it operated domestic and international routes from 193 ...
(DNL), Aerotransport (ABA),
Swedish Intercontinental Airlines Svensk Interkontinental Lufttrafik AB, SILA, trading internationally as Swedish Intercontinental Airlines, was an airline formed in 1943 by banker Marcus Wallenberg Jr. An early president of the airline was Per Norlin. In August 1946 with Danish A ...
(SILA) and
Danish Air Lines Det Danske Luftfartselskab A/S or DDL, trading in English as Danish Air Lines, was Denmark's national airline from 1918 until it merged to create Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) in 1951. DDL was established on 29 October 1918, but started its f ...
(DDL), who created
Overseas Scandinavian Airlines System Overseas may refer to: * ''Overseas'' (album), a 1957 album by pianist Tommy Flanagan and his trio *Overseas (band), an American indie rock band * "Overseas" (song), a 2018 song by American rappers Desiigner and Lil Pump * "Overseas" (Tee Grizzley ...
(OSAS) in 1946 and
European Scandinavian Airlines System European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe a ...
(ESAS) two years later. The airlines merged to create the SAS
consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...
in 1951. In the early years, SAS would rapidly purchase the newest intercontinental aircraft and gradually relegate them to European and then domestic service. The Caravelle was introduced in 1959 as SAS' first jetliner; intercontinental jet services commenced with the Douglas DC-8 the following year. The consortium created
Scanair Scanair was a charter airline of Danish origins that operated between 1961 and 1994. Its head office was in Bromma, Stockholm Municipality, Sweden. History Scanair was founded in Denmark in June 1961 and was partially owned by Scandinavian Air ...
as a
charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
sister company in 1961.
SAS Commuter SAS Commuter, also branded as Scandinavian Commuter, was a regional airline which operated in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. A sister company of Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), it operated various regional services on behalf of the Scandinavian flag ca ...
was created in 1984 to operate
regional airliner A regional airliner or a feederliner is a small airliner that is designed to fly up to 100 passengers on short-haul flights, usually feeding larger carriers' airline hubs from small markets. This class of airliners is typically flown by the re ...
s. The last such aircraft were retired in 2010. SAS bought its main competitors
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 ...
of Sweden in 1993 and Braathens of Norway in 2001; the latter was merged to operate as
SAS Braathens SAS Braathens was the name of Norway's largest airline, created by a merger between Scandinavian Airlines' Norwegian division and Braathens in 2004. On June 1, 2007, the airline was integrated into mainline SAS, and changed its name to SAS Scandi ...
in Norway between 2004 and 2007.


Livery

During the negotiations to create OSAS, the airlines quickly agreed that they would need a common profile and naming style. Referencing
Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
s allowed the airline to play on a common history between the Scandinavian countries, while giving a global distinctive and recognizable mark. The aircraft were painted with a
livery A livery is an identifying design, such as a uniform, ornament, symbol or insignia that designates ownership or affiliation, often found on an individual or vehicle. Livery will often have elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or ...
consisting of a dragon's head, iconic of the Viking
longship Longships were a type of specialised Scandinavian warships that have a long history in Scandinavia, with their existence being archaeologically proven and documented from at least the fourth century BC. Originally invented and used by the Nors ...
s, in combination with a
cheatline An aircraft livery is a set of comprehensive insignia comprising color, graphic, and typographical identifiers which operators (airlines, governments, air forces and occasionally private and corporate owners) apply to their aircraft. As aircraft ...
which intersected with the windows such as to visualize the shields hung on the side of the longships. After
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> ...
's appointment as
chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
in 1981, he introduced a "new corporate identity" for the airline. In addition to a change of operating policy, it gave the airline a new graphical identity and livery.
Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...
: 27
Carlzon was especially opposed to the Viking markings, as he believed people did not understand the dragon head reference and otherwise associated Vikings with pillage and rape.
Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...
: 28
Early proposals called for green aircraft—considered neutral in relation to the Scandinavian national colors. The re-branding job was then issued to
Landor Associates Landor is a brand consulting firm founded in 1941 by Walter Landor, who pioneered some research, design, and consulting methods that the branding industry still uses. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company maintains 26 offices in 20 count ...
, who initially proposed the "Royal Scandinavian" brand with an oriental design, but this was discarded. The roll-out of the "Carlzon livery" took place on 12 April 1983 saw a white body with slanted vertical stripes in the Scandinavian flags' colors. SAS' current livery was first presented in September 1998 with the introduction of the
Boeing 737 Next Generation The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a narrow-body aircraft powered by Twinjet, two jet engines and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third generation derivative of th ...
. Part of a company-wide new identity, SAS 2000+, the aircraft were given a white body, "Scandinavian" was replaced with "Scandinavian Airlines", the
vertical stabilizer A vertical stabilizer or tail fin is the static part of the vertical tail of an aircraft. The term is commonly applied to the assembly of both this fixed surface and one or more movable rudders hinged to it. Their role is to provide control, sta ...
was painted blue and the engines red. The three national flags with crowns were replaced with matrix representing the Scandinavian flags. Operations in Norway were branded SAS Braathens between 2004 and 2007, receiving a distinct livery based on the main SAS scheme. A number of special paint jobs have been carried out. In the mid-1990s, SAS started a scheme to cover MD-80 in single colors overlaid with small, white aircraft silhouettes, but the project was abandoned after two aircraft. As SAS was one of the main sponsors of the
1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...
in
Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...
, it painted one aircraft in a Lillehammer '94 scheme. Similarly a Copenhagen '96 scheme was painted for Copenhagen's term as the European Capital of Culture. Since 2002, SAS has painted selected aircraft in a Star Alliance livery. With the delivery of the A319 in 2006, one aircraft was delivered in a retro Viking scheme.


Naming

DDL and ABA had given their aircraft geographic names, such as DDL's ''Dania'' and ''Jutlandia'' and ABA's ''Svealand'' and ''Lappland''. DNL had named their aircraft for Norwegian
folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
and animals, such as ''Askeladden'' and ''Valkyrien''. ABA introduced animal names, such as ''Falken'', from the 1930s. SILA originally gave "
Yankee The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Its various senses depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, residents of the Northern United St ...
names", such as ''Jim'' and ''Bob'', later changing to winds, such as ''Nordan'' and ''Monsun''. OSAS' Viking concept resulted in the aircraft being named in the format "Foo Viking", such as ''Dana Viking'' and ''Olav Viking'', where the first part was the given name of a historical kings and chieftain from the
Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...
. Names were selected by the Fleet Development Division in cooperation with the
University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...
.
Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...
: 24
With the creation of the consortium, five rules were formulated for the naming: the larger the aircraft, the more prominent Viking it was to be named after; aircraft were to be named for kings, chieftains, seafarers and scribes from the Viking Age; names of gods in
Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
were not used; names of non-Scandinavian origin were not used; and names containing the Scandinavian letters æ, ä, ø, ö and å were omitted.
Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...
: 25–26
A lack of prominent Swedish Vikings caused SAS to later also allow people from the
Yngling The Ynglings were a dynasty of kings, first in Sweden and later in Norway, primarily attested through the poem ''Ynglingatal''. The dynasty also appears as Scylfings (Old Norse ''Skilfingar'') in ''Beowulf''. When ''Beowulf'' and ''Ynglingatal'' ...
period to be used. A naming exception was ''Huge Viking'', which was used for a
Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...
. ''Huge'' was the quickest being in Norse mythology, but the name also played on the words English meaning.
Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...
: 26
SAS reuses the names from retired aircraft, except for those of crashed aircraft. Because of oversights, the name ''Agnar'' and ''Rane'' have however been reused. A similar naming convention, albeit using the full name of kings, was used by Braathens SAFE of Norway and Loftleiðir of Iceland. As Carlzon was opposed to the Viking references, he also proposed that the names be abolished. The executive management reverted its decision following massive protests from within the airline. Female aircraft names were introduced by Scanair in 1980, who gave them to all their Douglas DC-8s.
Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...
: 29
SAS followed suit in 1989, when the entire series of
Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...
were named for prominent female Vikings. Scandinavian letters were introduced from the 1990s. SAS Commuter's Norwegian
Fokker 50 The Fokker 50 is a turboprop-powered airliner, designed as an improved version of the successful Fokker F27 Friendship. The Fokker 60 is a stretched freighter version of the Fokker 50. Both aircraft were manufactured and supported by Dutch airc ...
aircraft were given names for places in Norway, such as ''Lakselv''.


Aircraft

The list includes aircraft operated in the European Scandinavian Airlines System pool, operated by Aerotransport, Norwegian Air Lines and Danish Air Lines, by the consortium Overseas Scandinavian Airlines System, the consolidated Scandinavian Airlines System (later Scandinavian Airlines), and the SAS-branded SAS Commuter and SAS Braathens. It excludes other airlines within the SAS Group not branded as "SAS" or "Scandinavian", including
Scanair Scanair was a charter airline of Danish origins that operated between 1961 and 1994. Its head office was in Bromma, Stockholm Municipality, Sweden. History Scanair was founded in Denmark in June 1961 and was partially owned by Scandinavian Air ...
,
Spanair Spanair S.A. was a Spanish airline, with its head office in the Spanair Building in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, near Barcelona. Until 2009, it was a subsidiary of the SAS Group; the same parent company in control of Scandinavian Airlines and held ...
,
Blue1 Blue1 Oy was a Finnish airline owned by CityJet. It was a subsidiary of the SAS Group and flew to around 28 destinations in Europe, mainly from its base at Helsinki Airport. It carried over 1.7 million passengers in 2011.
and Widerøe. The list includes the manufacturer, model, the total quantity operated by SAS (the peak quantity may be lower), the current quantity operated as of October 2018, the number of passengers (pax), and the years the first aircraft entered (start) and last aircraft retired (end) from service.


References


Footnotes


Bibliography

* *


External link

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Aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...
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 ...