History

 

 

 

The Beginning

 

Braathens was founded on 26th of March 1946 by Norwegian ship-owner Ludvig G. Braathen. His intention was to establish an airline that should serve the Norwegian ships worldwide. As he was a ship-owner himself, he of course thougth first of his own ships.

Norwegian Authorities were actually not very keen to see a new start-up beside SAS. Luckely, Braathen got finally approval and bought 3 C54 second-hand from the US Air Force. After refitting and converting, the first aircraft "Norse Explorer" arrived at Oslo-Gardermoen on 26th of December 1946. Two more "Norse Skyfarer" and "Norse Trader" followed in early 1947.

The first flights were non regular flights, actually civillians were flown out of Palestine, but soon after, Braathens was able to offer a regular schedule to the far east. Hong Kong was served twice monthly. Later in 1947, New York and Johannesburg were added to the network.  As demand grew, a DC-3 and another DC-4 were bought from KLM and set into traffic.During that time, KLM was also responsible for the maintenance.

On February 3rd 1949, Braathens got offically the concession to fly the route Oslo-Stavanger-Amsterdam-Hong Kong. This concession was valid for a 5 years term. Two Lockheed Constellations were ordered in 1952, but as the Norwegian Authorities decided not to extend the concession of Braathens to the Far East, Braathens was forced to sell these aircraft before delivery.

But actually from that time, Braathens SAFE got its name, because SAFE stood for Southern American and Far East . Even today, traces of the past can be viewed in Stavanger with one old Hangar still bearing the old logo. Actually, the company was named Braathens SAFE Air Transport AS, but Braathens SAFE became the used name.

 

Norwegian Domestic - Building up a route network

When the concession to fly the routes to the far east expired, Braathens began to build up a domestic operation. The first route was Oslo-Tönsberg-Stavanger and was flown with a DeHallivand Heron. Ludvig. G. Braathen was a man with visions and whenever possible, he travelled though the country and promoted direct air connections. In 1955 Farsund and Kristiansand were added, 1956 saw the addition of Hamar and Notodden, 1958 Alesund-Oslo services began. In June 1958, Braathens opend the route Stavanger-Bergen-Alesund-Trondheim, what is today called the "Kystruten".

In 1956, Braathens got also the concession to fly Oslo-Stavanger and Oslo-Trondheim. This concession was valid for 5 years.

In order to cope the growing demand, Braathens ordered Fokker 27, with the first arriving 1959. In 1961, Braathens also introduced the DC-6, and began to operate also some charter flights, as the DC-6 proved to be quite big for the Norwegian Market. In 1966, the last DC-4 was sold and Braathens operated a fleet of Fokker 27 and DC-6. Already in the mid 60s, charter tours to the mediteranians were popular, but of course not comparable in numbers with today.

But charter has always been a significant part of the business, and even today is a remarkable part of the overall operations.

 

The "Luftbussen" - becoming Number 1 in Norway.

Like no other aircraft, the Fokker 27 is assotiated with the groth of Braahtens and air travel in Norway. The famos "Luftbussen" was a cheap and reliable aircraft, which set new standards. The Fokker 27 remained in fleet until, actually beeing the real workhorse of the 60s. For many, the success of Braathens began with the Fokker 27, creating a new way of travelling in Norway.

Braathens was the launch customer for the aircraft, but Aer Lingus managed to fly the first passengers a day earlier, claiming the honour of the first operator of the type.

Today, the spirit of the past can still be felt in the Flyhistorisk Museum in Stavanger-Sola, just beside the airport, where LN-SUL has been preserved for later generations.

 

 

Jet-Set - Fokker 28 and Boeing 737-200

Already in 1969, Braathens introduced the Fokker 28 and the Boeing 737-200 and entered the jet age. The Boeing 737-200 was a perfect fit for the growing charter market and was subsequently used on charter flights to Southern Europe.

The Fokker 28 soon took over the position of the Fokker 27, beeing a reliable workhorse, flying the route network all day long. In !972 Braathens set two Milestones, for the first time it carried more than 1 Million passengers, and on

The first aircraft LN-SUS was delivered on the year-turn 68/69, and the second one LN-SUP followed just a few months later in March.

 

Intermezzo - The Boeing 767-200

 

Braathens got its first 767-200 in 1984, actually intending to use it on charter flights, mainly to and from Sweden. However, competition in the charter sector was extremly high during the early 80s, and Braathens advanced charter product was most certainly ahead of its time. Operations ran with a big loss and it was a tough and harmful decision to phase out the 767-200.

No one liked the 767 more than CEO Björn Braathen, but also he had to admit that the time was wrong, and so the LN-SUV left in 1985, and LN-SUW a year later. Braathens could secure an attractive deal with Boeing, returning the two 767s in exchange for 6 new 737-200s.

The experiences with the highly advanced cockpit and instruments were a main factor when the decision was taken to aquire 737-400s and and 737-500s as replacement for the ageing -200s. Passengers remember the 767-200 as the best aircraft that Braathens ever had.

 

Boeing Unlimited - Introduction of the 737-400 and -500

Björn G. Braathen has always been a man with visions, but he also always demanded the most advanced technical product. When Braathens was looking for a replacement for the 737-200s, Boeing first came with the 737-300. But the aircraft was offered with mechanical cockpit and that was one reason why it wasn't choosen by Braathens.

The Boeing offered the 737-400 with electronical cockpit, and Björn G. Braathen knew that this could be a perfect fit for the chartermarket, but it was too big for most of the domestic routes. So he was always pressing Boeing to launch a smaller version, equal in size of the -200 but with all the advanced features of the -400.

Finally, the baby was born and dubbed the -500. When Boeing held the presentation, it was not by  mistake that Björn G. Braathen was invited to hold the speech, pointing out that "you always get the plane you want from Boeing". In fact, the Boeing 737-500 is fitting Braathens needs just perfectly.

Braathens became the European Launch Customer for the -500, with an order for 20 aircraft plus 7 -400s. It was an enormous financial risk, and Boeing helped a lot with the financing, taking back some of the older -200s.

It was LN-BRC Braathens first -500, that transported passengers for the first time, making Braathens the first operator in Europe and the second world-wide. Since that day in spring 1990, the -500 and the -400 have served Braathens as a reliable workhorse. From the beginning of 1998, 737-700 began to join the fleet, and also in future the mainstay of the Braathens fleet will be Boeing 737 aircraft.

From the beginning of 1969 until today, Braathens has gained an enormous knowledge about this aircraft, and it should be mentioned that Boeing used to call Braathens if there was a problem with a 737 they couldn't fix. Braathens Technical Department once got the praise from Boeing: "Braathens knows everything about the 737, and if there is something they don't know, it is not worth to know." Just recently, the decision was taken to let Braathens Tekniske Division be a independent part in Braathens, rather than intefrating it into Scandinavain Technical Services. This will secure the technical division in Stavanger for the years to come and with recently won contracts, it is clear, that Braathens technical is still one of the best maintennance facilities wordwide.

 

Becoming more International

In 1988, Braathens got after more than 30 years, once again a concession to fly an international route. Oslo-Billund was opened with LN-SUA beeing the first aircraft to arrive at Billund.In 1991, Dan Airs dismissal opened the door for further expansion, and Routes from Oslo to London and Newcastle as well as Bergen-London and Stavanger-Newcastle were opened.Services to Malmö prooved to be not profitable and were suspended only one year after inaugurating.With KLM taking 30% of Braathens, Braathens started feeding KLM hub in Amsterdam, and Stavanger-Amsterdam services opened in March 1998 and Bergen-Amsterdam a year later.

 

Growth and Overexpansion - Braathens Swedish activities

Braathens had a enormous groth during 1998 and 1999, after Oslo's new airport at Gardermoen was opened. Number of domestic services increased dramaticly and so did competition. Color Air started to fly to Bergen, Alesund and Trondheim from Oslo, while SAS was increasing frequencies and opening routes to Alesund and Kristiansand.

At the same time, international routes to Aberdeen and Milan were opened.

The number of aircraft in production rose from 27 to 34, resulting in enormous over-capacity and losses for 1998 and 1999. Color Air came in for it's final landing after having flown only one year, and even after Color Air's exit, Braathens lost in 1999 more than 1 Billion NOK, and estimate of 125 Mio. US$.

As a result, routes were axed, first of them beeing Oslo-Haugesund and Sandefjord-Bergen/Stavanger services. Stockholm was cut out, and later followed Milan, Newcastle, Roros, Murmansk. Routes to Barcelona and Nice were opened with the free capacity. 3 -500s left the fleet for British Airways. 2 -400s were first leased to Virgin Express and later sold.

Braathens started its Swedish adventure in 1996, when buying 50% of Transwede, which was later taken over completely. In 1998, Braathens also bought Malmö Aviation. Swedish operation resulted in great losses, specially due to the fact that some flights went to Stockholm Arlanda while others started at the city airport in Bromma. But Braathens had also a big image-problem in Sweden. They were big in Norway, but a Nobody in Sweden. Operations were scaled back and today, Malmö Aviaton is owned by Braganza and operates flights to Gothenburg, Malmö and Lulea from Bromma.

However, the financial situation of Braathens was so weak that in 2001, CEO Arne A. Jensen announced plans to let SAS take over. The only other way out was bankrupcy. First Norwegian competition authorities wanted to block the deal, but finally, in December 2001, the deal was approved as no one else was interested to take over Braathens and invest the necessary money. Arne Jensen resignes as CEO in Braathens in November, and Vidar Meum took over, announcing further cuts to the route network.

 

New Perspectives - Member of the SAS Group

Today, Braathens is a fully owned subsidy of SAS. Braathens remains a separate entity, with it's own fleet and personal.

By January 7th 2002, 6 737-700s were grounded and more routes were axed, frequencies were down to 8 on the trunk routes. During the first quarter 2002, still operating parallel in competition to SAS, Braathens was making a small profit.

The domestic route network was devided on April 1st between SAS and Braathens, leaving SAS to fly only three trunk-routes from Oslo to Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim, while Braathens is flying the rest. During the summer, Braathens flies three times a week directly from Oslo to Svalbard, the northernmost civil airport worldwide.

The decision to fire the own ground-staff and to go over to Scandinavian Ground Services, which is owned by SAS, resulted in big frustration among the Braathens employees.

The brutto result for the second quarter 2002 in Braathens was 440 Mio SEK, the highest ever profit in a quarter. Braathens is today financially recovering, and it looks like that the worst times are passed.

With No-Frills operator Norwegian operating on many routes, Braathens faces more competition.

 

SAS Braathens - The final destination ?

During 2003, decision was taken to integrate SAS Norge (the Norwegian operations of SAS) and Braathens into one new Company called SAS Braathens. The new airline will be operating under SK4XXX codes and have a fleet of 52 Boeing 737 aircraft. As part of the process, all aircraft will get a new look which is made up of the basic SAS cs. The new airline will lease the complete fleet and since have no own aircraft.
Braathens Technical Division is not included in the process and will not be included in the new company. It will becomes an own company under the SAS Group umbrella called "Braathens Technical Services".

The Braathens livery can be expected to be seen for a number of years to come at airports across Europe. The paint process will take place in line with Heavy Maintenance and since most of the Braathens fleet has been painted in the last 2 years, it is highly doubtful to see all the Braathens aircraft repainted soon.