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SAS Commuter
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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 carrier. The airline was headquartered at Copenhagen Airport, which also served as its main base. It later also operated bases at Tromsø Airport; Stockholm Arlanda Airport; Trondheim Airport, Værnes and Bergen Airport, Flesland.
Established in 1984 as Commuter Operations Department, a business unit of SAS, it initially flew minor services out of Copenhagen using a fleet of nine Fokker F27 Friendships. Twenty-two Fokker 50s were delivered in 1989 and 1990. They operated out of Copenhagen under the Eurolink brand, as well as taking over regional services in Northern Norway from May 1990 under the Norlink brand. Starting in February 1997, SAS Commuter took delivery of six Saab 2000, with it operated with the Swelink brand. They served domestic and secondary Finnish destinations out of Stockholm.
SAS Commuter became the launch customer of the Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 in January 2000, which over the next two years replaced the Eurolink Fokkers and the Saabs. The Q400 were initially plagued with technical faults. The Norlink operations were in 2002 abandoned to sister company Widerøe. However, from April 2003 SAS Commuter took over former Braathens routes in Western Norway, operated under the Westlink brand. SAS Commuter was dissolved on 1 October 2004 and integrated into the three national operating companies.
Following the retirement of the Convair Metropolitan in 1976, SAS operated an all-jetliner fleet. Although it is the designated flag carrier for the three Scandinavian countries, each country has allowed domestic airlines to operate a significant portion of the domestic services. By the 1980s the smallest aircraft in SAS' fleet is the Douglas DC-9, which is too large for some services. Discussions were carried out in 1983 to create a dedicated domestic airline for Sweden, which would see a merger between among others SAS' domestic operations, Linjeflyg and Swedair. No agreement could be reached.
SAS therefore decided to subcontract the operation of some of its international and domestic services to Busy Bee and Swedair, starting in 1982. Most of these were international services out of Copenhagen, as well as domestic routes in Sweden. The move was met with fierce opposition from the pilots unions, who threatened to "boycott" the decision by continuing to land aircraft on the former routes. For instance, services from Copenhagen to Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik and Bergen Airport, Flesland had previously been operated as a two-legged flight. With smaller aircraft, both could be operated as nonstop services.
After pressure from the pilots' union, SAS decided on 7 March 1984 to establish the Commuter Operations Department (COD) as a business unit. It would operate a series of regional airliners and have its own crew. The aircraft would otherwise be branded in line with SAS livery and branding. SAS terminated its agreements with Busy Bee and Swedair prematurely in order to insource the operations.
Nine Fokker F27s were bought, four from Trans Australia Airlines for $9.5 million. Services commenced on 17 December 1984 with the first four aircraft under the subbrand Eurolink—operating shorter hauls out of Copenhagen Airport. Initially this included routes to Oslo Airport, Fornebu; Göteborg Landvetter Airport; Haugesund Airport, Karmøy; Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik; Jönköping Airport and Hamburg Airport. The services to Hamburg was by far the busiest, with five to seven daily services. The old aircraft, built between 1967 and 1969, were unpopular with the customers because of low comfort, high noise levels and many technical problems. Customers would often complain when they realized they would have to travel with a F27 rather than a DC-9. A further five F27 were bought from Aero Trasporti Italiani in 1985, costing 70 million Swedish kronor (SEK).
SAS announced in October 1986 that they intended to replace their commuter fleet with a newer aircraft type. The SAS Group's three owner companies—Aerotransport, Danish Air Lines and Norwegian Air Lines—decided in May 1988 to split the SAS Group into three consortia. Essentially the charter operator Scanair and SAS Commuter were split out into separate companies which became sisters of the SAS Group, owned in the tradition 3:2:2 ratio. This took effect in 1989.
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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 carrier. The airline was headquartered at Copenhagen Airport, which also served as its main base. It later also operated bases at Tromsø Airport; Stockholm Arlanda Airport; Trondheim Airport, Værnes and Bergen Airport, Flesland.
Established in 1984 as Commuter Operations Department, a business unit of SAS, it initially flew minor services out of Copenhagen using a fleet of nine Fokker F27 Friendships. Twenty-two Fokker 50s were delivered in 1989 and 1990. They operated out of Copenhagen under the Eurolink brand, as well as taking over regional services in Northern Norway from May 1990 under the Norlink brand. Starting in February 1997, SAS Commuter took delivery of six Saab 2000, with it operated with the Swelink brand. They served domestic and secondary Finnish destinations out of Stockholm.
SAS Commuter became the launch customer of the Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 in January 2000, which over the next two years replaced the Eurolink Fokkers and the Saabs. The Q400 were initially plagued with technical faults. The Norlink operations were in 2002 abandoned to sister company Widerøe. However, from April 2003 SAS Commuter took over former Braathens routes in Western Norway, operated under the Westlink brand. SAS Commuter was dissolved on 1 October 2004 and integrated into the three national operating companies.
Following the retirement of the Convair Metropolitan in 1976, SAS operated an all-jetliner fleet. Although it is the designated flag carrier for the three Scandinavian countries, each country has allowed domestic airlines to operate a significant portion of the domestic services. By the 1980s the smallest aircraft in SAS' fleet is the Douglas DC-9, which is too large for some services. Discussions were carried out in 1983 to create a dedicated domestic airline for Sweden, which would see a merger between among others SAS' domestic operations, Linjeflyg and Swedair. No agreement could be reached.
SAS therefore decided to subcontract the operation of some of its international and domestic services to Busy Bee and Swedair, starting in 1982. Most of these were international services out of Copenhagen, as well as domestic routes in Sweden. The move was met with fierce opposition from the pilots unions, who threatened to "boycott" the decision by continuing to land aircraft on the former routes. For instance, services from Copenhagen to Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik and Bergen Airport, Flesland had previously been operated as a two-legged flight. With smaller aircraft, both could be operated as nonstop services.
After pressure from the pilots' union, SAS decided on 7 March 1984 to establish the Commuter Operations Department (COD) as a business unit. It would operate a series of regional airliners and have its own crew. The aircraft would otherwise be branded in line with SAS livery and branding. SAS terminated its agreements with Busy Bee and Swedair prematurely in order to insource the operations.
Nine Fokker F27s were bought, four from Trans Australia Airlines for $9.5 million. Services commenced on 17 December 1984 with the first four aircraft under the subbrand Eurolink—operating shorter hauls out of Copenhagen Airport. Initially this included routes to Oslo Airport, Fornebu; Göteborg Landvetter Airport; Haugesund Airport, Karmøy; Kristiansand Airport, Kjevik; Jönköping Airport and Hamburg Airport. The services to Hamburg was by far the busiest, with five to seven daily services. The old aircraft, built between 1967 and 1969, were unpopular with the customers because of low comfort, high noise levels and many technical problems. Customers would often complain when they realized they would have to travel with a F27 rather than a DC-9. A further five F27 were bought from Aero Trasporti Italiani in 1985, costing 70 million Swedish kronor (SEK).
SAS announced in October 1986 that they intended to replace their commuter fleet with a newer aircraft type. The SAS Group's three owner companies—Aerotransport, Danish Air Lines and Norwegian Air Lines—decided in May 1988 to split the SAS Group into three consortia. Essentially the charter operator Scanair and SAS Commuter were split out into separate companies which became sisters of the SAS Group, owned in the tradition 3:2:2 ratio. This took effect in 1989.
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