This article is about the former airline. For the owners of Malmö Aviation, see Malmö Aviation.
Braathens
IATA
ICAO
Callsign
BU
BRA
BRAATHENS
Founded
26 March 1946 (1946-03-26)
Commenced operations
30 January 1947 (1947-01-30)
Ceased operations
1 May 2004 (2004-05-01) (rebranded as SAS Braathens)
Hubs
Oslo–Gardermoen (1947—1949; 1998—2004)
Oslo–Fornebu (1949—1998)
Stockholm–Arlanda (1997—1999)
Frequent-flyer program
Wings
Alliance
KLM–Northwest (1997—2001)
Fleet size
26 (2004)
Destinations
19 (2004)
Parent company
Branganza (1946—1994)
SAS Group (2001—2004)
Headquarters
Diamanten, Fornebu, Bærum, Norway
Key people
Bjørn G. Braathen (CEO, 1976—1989)
Erik G. Braathen (CEO, 1989—1999)
Arne A. Jensen (CEO, 1999—2001)
Founders
Ludvig G. Braathen (CEO, 1946—1976)
Website
www.braathens.no
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, mostly Boeing 737 variants. Braathens served 53 airports and 50 cities with scheduled services through its history.
The airline was founded in 1946 by Ludvig G. Braathen and originally used a fleet of Douglas DC-4 aircraft on routes to the Far East and South Africa. From 1954 the airline was forced to operate all its scheduled flights domestically, where it used de Havilland Herons. Braathens SAFE retained an international charter service using the DC-3 and DC-6. As new domestic airports were built, Braathens SAFE and SAS were awarded each their share of monopoly route concessions. The Fokker F-27 was introduced in 1958, but was phased out with the delivery of the Fokker F-28 and Boeing 737-200 jets from 1969. The last F-27 was phased out in 1975. After a two-year use of Boeing 767 aircraft, Braathens operated an all-Boeing 737 fleet from 1986.
Increased domestic competition on routes started from 1987, along with Braathens SAFE again starting international routes. By 1994 the fleet had been replaced with Boeing 737-400 and -500 and domestic deregulation of the airline market was introduced. Braathens followed up by listing itself on the Oslo Stock Exchange, joining an alliance with Dutch airline KLM and expanding its operations to Sweden through purchasing Transwede and Malmö Aviation. The 1998 opening of Gardermoen resulted in an intense price war with SAS and Color Air, from which Braathens never recovered financially. Braathens was controlled by Braganza until 2001, when it was sold to the SAS Group. Braathens merged with SAS Norway on 1 May 2004.
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after the war, as did Braathens SAFE in 1946 on its routes to Europe and the Far East with the Douglas DC-3 aircraft. In 1952, Braathens SAFE received concession...
the new Ålesund Airport, Vigra to Trondheim was granted to Braathens SAFE from 1958. Braathens SAFE then also started using Fokker F-27 turboprops, at first...
Braathens, until 1998 known as Braathens SAFE, was a Norwegian scheduled and charter airline which operated between 1946 and 2004. The airline had 118...
services produced by Busy Bee for Braathens in Western Norway. Busy Bee, founded in 1966, was a subsidiary of Braathens that operated a fleet of Fokker...
competitors Linjeflyg of Sweden in 1993 and Braathens of Norway in 2001; the latter was merged to operate as SAS Braathens in Norway between 2004 and 2007. During...
Vigra was closed, Braathens would land their larger 124-seat Boeing 737-200s at Årø, making the terminal feel cramped. Braathens SAFE were awarded the...
previously owned the Rezidor Hotel Group (owner of the Radisson SAS brand) and Braathens and had a minority interest in bmi, airBaltic, Texas Air, Thai Airways...
SAS Scandinavian Airlines Danmark A/S, SAS Braathens AS, and SAS Scandinavian International AS. SAS Braathens was re-branded SAS Scandinavian Airlines Norge...
on 23 March, Braathens introduced the business class, Braathens Best, that would take up 70% of the cabin, and the economy class Braathens Back, that would...
existed, its head office was on the grounds of Fornebu Airport. Braathens and SAS Braathens had their head office facilities in a building on the grounds...
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