Scandinavian Airlines System Group: Difference between revisions

'''Scandinavian Airlines System Group (SAS Group)''' is the largest aviation company in Scandinavia. The company owns Scandinavian Airlines, which serves as the flag carrier for Norway, Sweden and Denmark, Blue1 and Widerøe, SAS Business Opportunities, SAS Cargo Group, SAS Ground Services and SAS Technical Services. SAS Group also holds minority interest of Air Greenland, Estonian Air and Skyways Express. As of 2011, SAS Group has 138 air crafts in operation, 2,528, cabin crews and 1,304 pilots. The company transported more than 22.9 million passengers in 60 destinations in 2011 and its reported revenue was SEK 36.7 billion.  The company is trading at the Copenhagen Stock Exchange and its headquarters is located at Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN) in Sigtuna Municipality, Sweden. Fifty percent of SAS Group's shares is owned by Swedish (21.4%), Danish (14.3%)and Norwegian (14.3%) governments while the remaining 50% is owned by different entities.<ref>[http://www.sasgroup.net/SASGROUP_IR/CMSForeignContent/SAS_%C3%85R2011_eng.pdf 2011 Annual Report]</ref>

Linn Drivdal Mellbye, conference organizer for [[CloudNames]], a company based in Norway engaged in providing gTLD application consultancy services and technical registry solutions tweeted that SAS Group is interested in applying for the [[.sas]] [[Brand gTLD]] with [[ICANN]]'s [[New gTLD Program]]. The company also confirmed its attendance to the scheduled Top Level Conference in London to explain its decision and strategy. However, the company cancelled its participation to the event. Domain experts speculated the possibility of a first brand [[string contention]] on the .sas TLD because the abbreviation represents numerous meanings. SAS Institute, a large software company based in North Carolina may also apply for the string.<ref>

[http://domainincite.com/another-dot-brand-confirmed-sas/   .sas could be the first contested dot-brand gTLD]</ref> <ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sas SAS Meanings]</ref> <ref>

[http://domainincite.com/icann-has-100-new-gtld-applicants/ ICANN has 100 new gTLD applicants]</ref>

SAS Group was established after the merger of the national flag carriers of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the Danish Aviation Company A/S (DDL), the Norwegian Aviation Company A/S (DNL) and the Swedish Inter Continental Air AB (SILA) in 1946. The current SAS Group was officially created in 1951. In 1957, SAS was the first airline company to offer the first around the world flight, Copenhagen-Anchorage-Tokyo via North Pole. The company joined the Star Alliance Network in 1997. SAS Group was listed in the Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo Stock Exchanges under the ticker symbol "SAS" In 2003, SAS Group established the SAS Scandinavian Airlines Denmark, Scandinavian Airlines SAS Sweden, SAS Braathens and SAS Scandinavian Airlines International as independent business units. In 2011, the company was recognized as the most punctual airline in Europe for the third consecutive year and launched its 4Excellence Strategy. <ref>[http://www.sas.dk/da/Om-SAS-Danmark2/Historie/?vst=true SAS History]</ref> The SAS Group Timeline of Events is available [http://www.sas.dk/da/Om-SAS-Danmark2/Historie/?vst=true '''here''']

[[Category:Companies]]