Braathens

Infobox_Airline
airline=Braathens
logo=Braathens logo.svg
logo_size=
IATA=BU
ICAO=BRA
callsign=Braathens
parent=Braathen Family and KLM
founded=1946
hubs=Oslo Airport, Gardermoen
focus_cities=Trondheim Airport, Værnes
Bergen Airport, Flesland
Stavanger Airport, Sola
frequent_flyer=BRACard
lounge=
alliance=KLM-Northwest
fleet_size=26
destinations=
headquarters=Oslo
key_people=CEO Arne A. Jensen
website= http://www.braathens.no

Braathens airline, until 1997 known as Braathens S.A.F.E. or Braathens South American and Far East Air Transport A/S, merged with the Norwegian part of Scandinavian Airlines to become SAS Braathens in 2004. The airline was based in Oslo, first at Fornebu, later at Gardermoen. The airline was the largest domestic carrier in Norway for many years, and the only carrier to have the Norwegian flag on the tailplane.

History

Far East

The airline was founded on March 26 1946 by Norwegian shipping line proprietor Ludvig G. Braathen with the intention of serving his ships in other parts of the world. It began operating charter routes to the Far East and to South America using US Air Force surplus Douglas C-54 piston-engined airliners. The maiden commercial flight took to the air on January 30 1947.

Initially, flights operated during the day only, necessitating several overnight stops for both passengers and crew. The route flown was Oslo - (Stavanger) - Amsterdam - Marseille - Cairo - Basra - Karachi - Calcutta - Bangkok - Hong Kong. The only contemporary regular Europe - Far East scheduled service was BOAC's sea plane operation. Later the same year, Braathens SAFE supplemented its C-54s with Douglas DC-3s. In total Braathens SAFE operated 75 flights to Hong Kong between 1947 and 1948.

Among Norway's contemporary airlines, Det Norske Luftfartsselskap (DNL, later SAS) had a monopoly on all international scheduled air routes from Norway. Braathens SAFE's flights from Norway to the Far East were so regular that Norwegian authorities claimed them to be scheduled and forced the airline to apply for a scheduled licence. Braathens threatened to register abroad. As a result, it was licensed to serve Hong Kong in 1949, for a duration of five years.

Braathens SAFE also flew to both Venezuela and Panama in 1948, but failed to get "clean" licences, as a result of which it didn't commence regular flights.

When Scandinavian Airlines System was established in 1951, it was given a monopoly on all international scheduled routes within as well as from and to Scandinavia. As a result of a ten-year agreement with Icelandic airline Loftleidir, Braathens SAFE managed to circumvent these restrictions, and was able to operate its C-54/DC-4s on regular routes from Europe to the US via Iceland, using an Icelandic operating permit.

AFE goes domestic

When Braathens SAFE applied to renew its licence for the Far Eastern route in 1954, it was turned down. As a result, Braathens SAFE was forced to refocus itself as a successful domestic-only airline. Braathens was granted several licences to operate scheduled services on a number of domestic routes. Although SAS was initially granted a monopoly on all Norwegian domestic routes (as a result of the Norwegian government's ownership of 1/7 of SAS's stock), other Norwegian airlines could apply for routes that SAS chose not to operate. This resulted in Braathens SAFE getting a fair number of licences, amongst others to Stavanger and Trondheim.

The first domestic route flown by the airline was Oslo - Tønsberg - Stavanger with De Havilland DH.114 Heron piston-engined commuter aircraft, the first of which was delivered on May 3, 1952. In 1953 the airline got permission to fly temporarily to Trondheim, and in 1956 permanently, two routes that the airline operated until its amalgamation with SAS. Subsequently, Røros (1953) and Kristiansand (1955) were addeded to Braathens' scheduled domestic network.

In 1956 the airline obtained an exclusive licence to serve Kristiansand - Stavanger - Bergen and Oslo - Ålesund (from 1958). SAS was also allowed to fly Oslo - Trondheim and Oslo - Stavanger while given monopoly rights from Trondheim to Northern Norway and Oslo - Bergen. This arrangement was kept in place until the award of a licence to Braathens to fly between Western Norway and Northern Norway from 1967.

On December 20, 1958 the airline received its first Fokker F-27 Friendship turboprop. The Friendships replaced all Herons by 1959. The airline also purchased larger, pressurised Douglas DC-6 piston-engined airliners for its charter operations. The charter market grew considerably in Norway during the 1960s and -70s, flying Norwegians to warmer climes in Southern Europe.

Into the Jet Age

Braathens ordered its first jet aircraft, the Boeing 737-200, in 1965. Originally, the airline had planned to order Boeing 737-100s, but instead ordered Fokker F-28 Fellowships. Both jet types were delivered in 1969. The two 737s were at first operating charter flights only, while the four F-28s began to replace the F-27s on scheduled domestic routes.

Kristiansund's new Kvernberget airport opened in 1970, with Braathens SAFE licensed as the new airport's first scheduled operator. Two years later, in 1972, Braathens also started flying to the new Årø airport serving the city of Molde. Stavanger - Haugesund - Bergen was added in 1974. The same year Braathens SAFE started using an electronic reservation system.

1971 marked the beginning of Norway's oil exploration. Stavanger became the country's oil capital. To provide logistical support to the oil industry, Braathens SAFE set up its own helicopter subsidiary, Braathens Helikopter. (It later sold its helicopter unit to its main competitor, Helikopter Service.)

In 1984 Braathens took delivery of two Boeing 767-200 widebodied jets, featuring 242 seats in a single-class configuration. The airline's new widebodies mainly operated international charter flights. However, these aircraft proved to be too big for most of the airline's operations, and were sold in 1986 (along with the Fokker F-28s). The sale of these aircraft gave Braathens SAFE a standardised fleet for the first time in its history. At the same time, the airline ordered 31 new Boeing 737-400s and -500s. The airline immediately sold all but two of the original 737-200s and leased them back, thereby taking advantage of the high prices that could be obtained for well-maintained second-hand aircraft that were in great demand at the time. The airline even managed to sell some of the new 737s for more than it had paid for these aircraft. By 1994 the last 737-200s had left the fleet.

Deregulation

Deregulation of the Norwegian airline market began in 1987 when Braathens SAFE was allowed to fly Oslo - Bergen, Oslo - Trondheim - Bodø and Tromsø - Svalbard, while SAS was given full access to Oslo - Stavanger and Oslo - Trondheim. In 1989 Braathens SAFE was once again permitted to fly international routes, resulting in the inauguration of its first fully fledged international scheduled service from Oslo to Billund. Additional international scheduled services were launched from Oslo / Bergen / Stavanger to Newcastle as well as from Tromsø to Murmansk. Within two weeks in October 1992, Norway Airlines went bankrupt and Dan-Air, the incumbent UK scheduled operator on the London Gatwick - Oslo route as well as a long-standing interline partner of Braathens ["various Dan-Air timetables listing scheduled flight connections from Newcastle and London Gatwick to several of Braathens' domestic destinations in Norway via Dan-Air's Norwegian gateways at Bergen, Kristiansand, Oslo and Stavanger", Dan Air Services Ltd., 1975-1990] , was acquired by British Airways in a last-minute rescue deal for a symbolic £1. However, Dan-Air's new owner decided to end all scheduled services between Gatwick and Oslo. With only eleven days' notice Braathens SAFE replaced the services Norway Airlines and Dan-Air had previously provided on that route.

The same year, on April 1, the Norwegian domestic market was deregulated, and any Norwegian or European airline was free to fly any domestic or international route within as well as from and to Norway. While SAS had advocated this for some time, Braathens SAFE's management had tried to delay deregulation until 1997, to buy the company more time to overcome its temporary financial crisis caused by borrowing huge amounts of money to finance the acquisition of a large number of brand-new 737s.

Greater access to capital through a so-called "primary distribution" was part of the company's solution to its financial problems. The airline's parent company, Braathen family owned shipping company Ludvig G. Braathens Rederi A/S, contributed 100 million NOK while others invested 300 million NOK. The primary distribution gave the Braathen family ownership of 68% of the firm's capital. The company was then listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. At the same time, Braathens Helikopter was sold to Helikopter Service for 225 million NOK.

Following deregulation, Braathens SAFE began flying from Oslo to Bodø, Harstad/Narvik and Tromsø in Northern Norway. In return, SAS started flying between Bergen and Stavanger. Deregulation resulted in increased flight frequencies on most internal Norwegian air routes.

AFE becomes "Back"

1997 was the year the airline adopted a new strategy. The previous year, Braathens SAFE had bought the Swedish airline Transwede, and in 1998 fellow-Swedish carrier Malmö Aviation. The three airlines were merged. In 1997 itself, the company changed its name and identity. The "new" Braathens dropped the long-established SAFE suffix from its name - simply calling itself Braathens - in both Norway and Sweden. A new, predominantly dark blue aircraft livery was launched, replacing the previous livery the airline had been using with only minor variations since its inception in 1946. The company's new logo, a stylised silver-grey wing, replaced the Norwegian flag on aircraft tailplanes. This was the first livery in the airline's history not to feature the national flag. The launch of several new commercial products was part of the airline's new strategy as well.

The same year KLM Royal Dutch Airlines bought a 30% stake from the Braathen family. This resulted in Braathens becoming part of the KLM-Northwest alliance. Braathens took over KLM's routes from Amsterdam to Norway. These routes mainly carried intercontinental transfer passengers who were changing flights at the Dutch flag carrier's Amsterdam Schiphol hub. Northwest Airlines also started flying to Oslo from its hub at Minneapolis. The resulting partially integrated network was marketed displaying the respective logos of KLM, Braathens and Malmö Aviation side-by-side on printed flight schedules, network maps, etc.

The most controversial bit of Braathen's new identity was the "Braathens Best" and "Braathens Back" concept. Prior to Braathens' makeover, neither it nor SAS had offered a separate business class cabin on domestic flights in Norway. Traditionally, Braathens' restricted discount fares had compelled ticket holders to comply with the so-called "Saturday night" rule, i.e. forcing these passengers to stay over a weekend. The "Saturday night" rule was designed to help the airline ensure that all same-day-return travellers needed to pay the much higher, "published" fares. Now, under the new "Braathens Best/Back" concept, it had decided to seat all discount passengers in a separate cabin at the back of the aircraft - "Braathens Back", while all full-fare ticket holders were accommodated in the "Braathens Best" section at the front of the plane. "Back" was a no frills product with a narrower seat pitch (compared with the full-service "Best" product). The unintended consequence of Braathens' new commercial concept was that more and more passengers were buying discounted "Back" tickets. This in turn resulted in the curtain divider separating the two cabins steadily moving forward to accommodate a continually expanding number of discount travellers in the invariably packed "Back" section, while seat occupancy in the ever smaller, full-fare "Best" section declined continuously.

A significant number of "Back" travellers were students, who frequently complained that the fares they had paid were often the same as rival SAS's lowest fares, and that unlike Braathens, SAS did not charge for the inflight catering. [ [http://universitas.uio.no/Arkiv/1998/12/BRAATHEN.HTM Studenter lures bak forhenget] (Students fooled behind the curtain) Universitas, 1998 no icon] The Tromsø branch of LO, Norway's largest labour union, urged passengers to avoid Braathens. There were reports of messy boarding procedures and Braathens flight attendants finding the task of moving passengers into the "Back" cabin behind the curtain unpleasant, as a result of which many of them wanted to leave Braathens and join SAS instead. [ [http://www.dn.no/arkiv/article17285.ece SAS skulle knuse Braathens] (SAS were to crush Braathens) dn.no (Dagens Næringsliv) September 1, 2001] Per Morten Schiefloe, professor of sociology, believed Braathens got "the worst of both worlds" by gaining few new passengers in the full-fare "Best" cabin and losing a significant number of "Back" discount travellers, who resented being treated as inferior "second class" citizens. [ [http://www.apertura.ntnu.no/folk/permsdok/Braathens.pdf Schiefloes article] (published in Adresseavisen, June 22, 2002) no icon]

The fall of Braathens

Ultimately, the "Best"/"Back" strategy failed, primarily because of the huge revenue loss Braathens suffered, as a result of losing many low-fare passengers to archrival SAS and significant numbers of loyal, full-fare customers availing themselves of unrestricted, deeply discounted "Back" fares. The launch in 1998 of Color Air, Norway's first completely no frills, low-cost carrier, resulted in a vicious price war between the country's three established domestic airlines, i.e. Braathens, SAS and Widerøe - a regional domestic carrier Braathens co-owned with SAS, on one hand and the newcomer on the other. Within 13 months, the ruinous price war had claimed its first victim. Color Air ceased trading during 1999. Braathens suffered as well, but managed to survive. Although SAS lost money too, the large profits its international as well as its Danish and Swedish operations generated enabled it to cross-subsidise the losses incurred in the Norwegian domestic market.

Braathens never recovered from this price war. The airline's decline coincided with the air travel market's general decline. In 2002 the SAS Group purchased the ailing airline. On April 1, 2004 Scandinavian Airlines Norway and Braathens were merged into SAS Braathens. This development provided the impetus for Norwegian Air Shuttle, a former Braathens subcontractor which had supplied the Fokker 50 turboprops that were operating on Braathens' west coast routes, to transform itself into a low-cost, no frills airline adopting the Norwegian brand. Norwegian's launch was supported by a number of leased Boeing 737-300s.

As of 2007, the Braathen family still owns Swedish regional carrier Malmö Aviation. It was not included in Braathens' sale to SAS and therefore did not form part of the subsequently renamed SAS Braathens.

In April 2007 SAS announced that it intended to fully absorb Braathens into its mainline Norwegian operation, as a result of which the Braathens name was to disappear for good.

Fleet

At the time of the SAS merger the Braathens fleet consisted of the following aircraft (numbers, types and sub-types):

*4 Boeing 737-400
*13 Boeing 737-500
*9 Boeing 737-700 "Next Generation" ("NG")

Historic fleet

Historic fleet operated by Braathens SAFE (1946 - 2004)

The Boeing and Fokker aircraft were all named after Norwegian kings.

Accidents and incidents

On November 7 1956 a Heron (registration LN-SUR) crashed in Hummelfjellet after it started to ice. The captain and one passenger were killed.

On the day before Christmas Eve, December 23 1972, Braathens suffered a fatal accident when Braathens Flight 239 crashed while approaching Fornebu airport, killing 40 people. The aircraft was a Fokker F-28 (registration LN-SUY). At the time this was the worst aircraft accident in Norway.

Livery

Until 1997 all Braathens SAFE aircraft were white and/or metallic with a red and blue cheatline along the side of the fuselage, with "Braathens S.A.F.E." titles above the windows and the Norwegian flag on the tailplane. These colours represented the colours of the Norwegian flag. After 1997, the airline replaced the national colours in its livery with a new white-and-blue design featuring an abstract grey wing on the tailplane. Subsequently, the Norwegian flag reappeared in a revised livery.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.sasbraathens.no/ SAS Braathens]
* [http://www.planespotters.net/Airline/Braathens?show=all Braathens Fleet Detail]
* [http://home.online.no/~lkatz/fly/airlines_braathens.htm Braathens History]
* [http://www.hangar.no/pages/Historikk:-Braathens-SAFE Braathens History] (Norwegian article)
* [http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/search.aspx?search=Braathens Braathens related articles in Archives section of flightglobal.com]

Other references

*Tjomsland, Audun and Wilsberg, Kjell (1999) "Braathens SAFE 50 år: Mot alle odds", Oslo, ISBN 82-990400-1-9