SAS Scandinavian Airlines signs LOI to add E195s

EU court dismisses Ryanair appeal against SAS state aid

Europe's highest court has upheld a lower court's dismissal of Ryanair's attempt to overturn Danish and Swedish state aid of SEK1.5 billion kroner (USD137 million) granted to SAS Scandinavian Airlines as compensation for Covid-19-related losses.

In its judgement on September 28, the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg declared Ryanair's grounds of appeal unfounded. It rejected all the arguments the low-cost carrier put forward and confirmed the judgments of the European General Court. In particular, it pointed out that the aid was limited to SAS.

"Since none of the grounds of appeal raised by the appellant has been upheld, the appeal must be dismissed in its entirety," it ruled.

Ryanair's appeal lodged on May 21, 2021, was in essence based on its conviction that the General Court had erred by dismissing the matter earlier that year finding that the aid measures complied with EU law. The General Court had found that SAS had a significantly higher market share than its closest competitor in Denmark and Sweden and was more affected by...

SAS to retire last B737 in mid-4Q23

SAS Scandinavian Airlines (SK, Copenhagen Kastrup) has announced it will retire its last B737-700 on November 19 with a special farewell flight from Stockholm Arlanda to Oslo Gardermoen. The airline thus completes its rollover to all-Airbus narrowbody fleet.

The carrier confirmed that the farewell flight will be operated by LN-RRB (msn 32276).

The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows that SAS continues to deploy four B737-700s. All are based out of Oslo, even though one is registered in Sweden. SAS's B737s seat up to 141 passengers in a single-class layout and all have been operated by the airline since new. The remaining four active aircraft are 17.7 years old on average and are all owned by the airline. The Scandinavian carrier operated up to thirty B737-700s in 2015 and has since been gradually downsizing the type's fleet.

One of SAS's B737-700s is convertible into a medevac aircraft availed when needed to the Royal Norwegian Air Force (NOW, Oslo Gardermoen). The airline said earlier this year that...

SAS ends most Widerøe ground handling contracts

SAS evaluates final bids in equity raising

SAS Scandinavian Airlines (SK, Copenhagen Kastrup) is to announce the winning bid for an equity stake in the airline as soon it has concluded the ongoing evaluation process, the airline said in a statement.

The equity fundraising forms part of its ongoing Chapter 11 restructuring process in the United States and aims to raise new investments in the reorganised company. The deadline for the submission of bids expired on September 25, and the carrier said it had "noted great interest from potential investors participating in the process". The timetable for its capital raising process was extended by one week at the request of one or more bidders.

Reuters and Bloomberg reported that SAS had received a final round of bids from potential suitors. The airline must raise at least SEK9.5 billion kronor (USD861 million) in new equity and convert or cut its SEK20 billion (USD1.8 billion) debt burden.

SAS is currently seeking court approval for the restructuring process in the US around the turn of the year, to be followed by possible regulatory approvals...