(Bloomberg) — 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.
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The airline is already back to about 95% of corporate travelers compared with pre-pandemic levels, a ratio that will return fully next year, Chief Executive Officer 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 8 million 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.
A spokesman for Air France-KLM said the group has an option to take a controlling stake in SAS as of the middle of 2026, provided that certain targets are met.
Speaking on a call with analysts earlier this month, Air France-KLM Chief Financial Officer Steven Zaat said “we have two years where we actually will have the same basis, so we work on the commercial cooperation. I think that is an opportunity.”
Van der Werff, 49, said that European countries should make sure they optimize their resources rather than being too focused holding onto a national carrier. It’s a lesson that Italy learned the hard way after trying unsuccessfully for years to turnaround the deeply unprofitable Alitalia, now rechristened as ITA, before settling on a sale.