Back from the brink, SAS wants Air France-KLM to raise its stake

Three months after exiting a bruising bankruptcy-protection plan, SAS AB wants to play a role in European airline consolidation by pitching itself to part-owner Air France-KLM as an attractive conduit to well-heeled Scandinavian travelers. The airline is already back to about 95% of corporate travelers compared with pre-pandemic levels, a ratio that will return fully next year, CEO Anko van der Werff said in an interview. SAS is putting a focus on its premium credentials with Copenhagen as its primary hub and will reintroduce business class on its intra-Europe services featuring hot meals and blocked out middle seats, he said. “The trigger is with the owners, not with me, but I would really like to be a part of that consolidation,” Van der Werff said in an interview at SAS’s headquarters on the outskirts of Stockholm this month. “It’s definitely a path that I’ll explore deeply.” SAS went through a two-year reorganization process after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, during which Air France-KLM swooped in to take a 19.9% stake. The Franco-Dutch carrier has an option to raise its holding to become a controlling shareholder after at least two years. Van der Werff said Europe must catch up on consolidating a still splintered aviation industry, saying that the region is far behind the US, where only about a handful of players dominate the air travel market. Besides its renewed focus on lucrative business travel, SAS also offers a strong Nordic market position with attractive landing slots and about 8m loyalty-card members — assets that go well beyond anything Air France-KLM could easily build in the region by itself, according to Van der Werff. With its current stake, Air France-KLM is a de-facto competitor, and there’s no room to align on pricing, capacity or network, the CEO added. <br/>