Braathens ASA, until 1997 Braathens South American & Far East Airtransport A/S and trading as Braathens SAFE, was a Norwegian airline which operated from 1946 until it merged with Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) in 2004 to become SAS Braathens. For most of its history, Braathens was the largest domestic airline in Norway, but did not operate an international network for many years. Its main hubs were Oslo Airport, Fornebu and later Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, and briefly Stockholm-Arlanda Airport. The airline operated 118 aircraft of 15 models, the majority of which having been variations of the Boeing 737. Braathens served 53 airports and 50 cities with scheduled services through its history.
Scandinavian Airlines, more commonly known and styled as SAS, is the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. SAS is an abbreviation of the company's full name, Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark-Norway-Sweden. Part of the SAS Group and headquartered at the SAS Frösundavik Office Building in Solna, Sweden, the airline operates 180 aircraft to 90 destinations. The airline's main hub is at Copenhagen-Kastrup Airport, with connections to 109 destinations around the world. Stockholm Arlanda Airport is the second largest hub and Oslo Airport, Gardermoen being the third major hub of SAS. Minor hubs also exist at Bergen Airport, Flesland, Göteborg Landvetter Airport, Stavanger Airport, Sola, and Trondheim Airport, Værnes. SAS Cargo is an independent, wholly owned subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines and its main office is at Copenhagen Airport.
Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, trading as Norwegian, is a Norwegian low-cost airline and Norway's largest airline. It is the fourth largest low-cost carrier in Europe behind Wizz Air, easyJet and Ryanair, the second-largest airline in Scandinavia, and the ninth-largest airline in Europe in terms of passenger numbers. It offers a high-frequency domestic flight schedule within Scandinavia and Finland, and to business destinations such as London, as well as to holiday destinations in the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands, transporting over 30 million people in 2016. The airline is known for its distinctive livery of white with a red nose, with portraits of high achievers on the tail fins of its aircraft.
Snowflake was a low-cost airline that operated out of Stockholm, Sweden, and Copenhagen, Denmark between 30 March 2003 and 30 October 2004. Owned by the SAS Group, it was organized as a business unit within Scandinavian Airlines, operating as a virtual airline using their crew and aircraft. Snowflake served a total 28 destinations from its bases at Stockholm Arlanda Airport and Copenhagen Airport.
Busy Bee was an airline which operated in Norway between 1966 and 1992. Entirely based around wet lease, it conducted a mix of regional services for larger airlines and the military, as well as corporate, ad hoc and inclusive tour charters.
Direktflyg, officially Svenska Direktflyg AB, was a regional airline based in Stockholm, Sweden which operated services to seven domestic destinations. The company also served as an aircraft lessor, through its subsidiary Largus Aviation.
Braathens Regional Airways AB is a Norwegian-owned Swedish airline with its head office in Trollhättan. It operates ACMI services between several domestic destinations within Sweden for its sister company and virtual airline BRA Braathens Regional Airlines and ad hoc charter services.
Braathens Regional Aviation was a Norwegian-owned Swedish airline headquartered in Malmö operating aircraft wet-leasing services together with its sister airline Braathens Regional Airways for BRA Braathens Regional Airlines.
SAS Braathens was the name of Norway's largest airline, created by a merger between Scandinavian Airlines' Norwegian division and Braathens in 2004. On June 1, 2007, the airline was integrated into mainline SAS, and changed its name to SAS Scandinavian Airlines Norge. The airline operated from its hub at Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, and was also the largest national branch of Scandinavian Airlines. SAS Braathens had its head office in Diamanten on the grounds of Fornebu Airport in Fornebu, Bærum, Norway.
Sverigeflyg was the main brand for the seven Swedish regional airlines Blekingeflyg, FlySmaland, Golden Air, Gotlandsflyg, Kalmarflyg, Kullaflyg, and Sundsvallsflyg. The actual air operator of all of their flights however was Braathens Regional. In March 2016, Sverigeflyg and Malmö Aviation merged into the new BRA Braathens Regional Airlines.
NextJet was one of the largest regional airlines in Sweden. It was headquartered in Frösundavik in Solna Municipality, just north of Stockholm. The airline filed for bankruptcy on 16 May 2018, half a year after one of its planes was believed to be sabotaged.
Røros Airport is a regional airport located 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) from the town of Røros in Trøndelag county, Norway. The asphalt runway has the physical dimensions 1,740 by 40 meters and is aligned 14/32. Scheduled services are provided to Oslo by Widerøe. The main general aviation user is Rørosfly, a pilot school, and the aviation club Røros Flyklubb.
SAS Commuter, also branded as Scandinavian Commuter, was a regional airline which operated in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. A sister company of Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), it operated various regional services on behalf of the Scandinavian flag carrier. The airline was headquartered at Copenhagen Airport, which also served as its main base. It later also operated bases at Tromsø Airport; Stockholm Arlanda Airport; Trondheim Airport, Værnes and Bergen Airport, Flesland.
Transwede Airways AB, doing business as Transwede, was a Swedish charter and later also scheduled airline operating between 1985 and 1998. Based at Stockholm Arlanda Airport, Transwede initially flew Sud Aviation Caravelles and from 1987 also McDonnell Douglas MD-80s. Most charter services were inclusive tour flights to the Mediterranean.
Kullaflyg was an airline based in Ängelholm/Helsingborg, Sweden. They lease aircraft and pilots from the sister company Braathens Regional. Their own staff works partly as ground personnel and as cabin crew on the aircraft. As all subsidiaries of Sverigeflyg, Kullaflyg uses the callsign and codes of Braathens Regional.
Sunways was a charter airline consisting of sister companies Sunways Airlines A.B. (SWY), based in Stockholm, Sweden, and SUNWAY Intersun Havacilik Anonim Sirketi (SWW), based at Istanbul-Atatürk and Antalya, Turkey. The airline was in operation from March 1995 to October 1997.
Braathens South American & Far East Airtransport A/S or Braathens SAFE was founded by ship-owner Ludvig G. Braathen in 1946. It started as a charter airline based at Oslo Airport, Gardermoen in Norway, flying to destinations in the Far East and in South America. At first the airline used Douglas DC-4s, and later also Douglas DC-3s. In 1948, the airline moved to Oslo Airport, Fornebu and started regular scheduled flights to the Far East. In 1952, the airline started cooperation with the Icelandic airline Loftleidir, where until 1960 the two airlines in cooperation flew flights to Reykjavík. Domestic services started in 1951, using de Havilland Herons on a route from Oslo to Stavanger via Tønsberg. Braathens SAFE also established at Stavanger Airport, Sola. A second route was started two years later to Trondheim. The Heron routes also stopped in Farsund, Kristiansand, Notodden to Stavanger and Hamar, Røros to Trondheim.
Braathens SAFE's domestic market was deregulated on 1 April 1994. Since then, any airline within the European Economic Area is free to operate any domestic or international route. Braathens rejected a proposal from the main competitor Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) for a merger; instead the helicopter division was sold and the company listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. New routes were opened from Oslo Airport, Fornebu to Bodø, Harstad/Narvik and Tromsø, but the routes from Bergen to these cities were terminated. International routes to Rome, Nice and Jersey were introduced. In 1996, Braathens SAFE bought Sweden's second-largest airline, Transwede, and started flying on the Oslo–Stockholm route. The following year, Transwede, with its five domestic routes, was merged into Braathens SAFE. The same year, KLM bought 30% of Braathens SAFE and the airlines started a partnership.
BRA Braathens Regional Airlines is a Norwegian-owned Swedish airline founded in 2016 and one of the largest domestic airlines in Sweden. The actual operators of all of its flights however are its sister companies Braathens Regional Airways and Braathens Regional Aviation. The brand BRA is the successor of Malmö Aviation and Sverigeflyg and the company has its headquarters in Stockholm. BRA suspended all operations on 6 April 2020 amid COVID-19 pandemic. It relaunched limited charter operations on 1 October 2020 and scheduled domestic operations in the final quarter of 2020, with more domestic routes restarting throughout the Summer 2021 season.
