SAS rehiring pilots
October 3, 2011
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has seen an improvement in its fortunes and announced it will be rehiring 130 pilots by next summer. The airline, plagued by heavy losses for years as the state-owned carrier faced competition from cut-rate airlines lacking SAS’ overhead, is now able to expand routes and departures. That means it needs to boost [...]
Faulty radar delays flights
September 29, 2011
Airline passengers in western Norway were hit by flight delays on Thursday, because of problems with the radar system at an air traffic control center near Stavanger. The problems forced delays of flights to and from Stavanger, Bergen and Haugesund. The problems were later corrected but it was expected to take several hours before traffic [...]
Norwegian Air flying high, too
July 17, 2011
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) reported good results earlier this month and now its arch-rival in Norway, Norwegian Air, has done the same. Norwegian is making a lot of money on the fees it charges for everything from seat reservations to checking luggage, something SAS doesn’t do but sometimes still comes out cheaper. The two airlines have [...]
Flying Norwegians set more records
July 8, 2011
Both Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and Norway’s gateway airport (Oslo Lufthavn Gardermoen, OSL) could report strong numbers this week, showing that the Norwegian public is flying more than ever before. For long-troubled SAS, the news was perhaps especially welcome. SAS’ total passenger traffic rose 4.9 percent in June compared to June of last year. The increase [...]
Airline traffic mostly back to normal
May 25, 2011
Norwegian air space and airports were all open on Wednesday with traffic expected to mostly keep “running as normal” throughout the day, according to aviation officials. Some closures in Europe forced various flight cancellations and delays, though, as ash from Iceland’s latest volcanic eruption spread south to the continent. Airline traffic was halted in and [...]
Flights running, uncertainty remains
May 24, 2011
Many flights were taking off and landing in Norway on Tuesday, but the unpredictable clouds of ash from Iceland’s latest volcanic eruption left aviation officials unsure how long “ordinary” airline traffic could continue. “There are changes coming all the time,” Sindre Ånonsen of civil aviation authority Avinor told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) late Tuesday afternoon. Current [...]
Air space open, but with restrictions
May 24, 2011
UPDATED: Another round of airline disruption was descending on Norway and much of Europe after all on Tuesday, as unpredictable and unusually strong winds spread volcanic ash from Iceland. The ash was moving over both the southerly and most northerly parts of Norway. That forced suspension of fights to and from Svalbard, while Stavanger’s airport [...]
Uncertainty reigns as ash rains down
May 23, 2011
UPDATED: Civil aviation officials remained highly uncertain on Monday whether the weekend’s new volcanic eruptions in Iceland would seriously disrupt airline traffic in Norway and elsewhere in Europe. Flights to and from Svalbard faced delays Monday afternoon and air ambulance service was halted, while more volcanic ash was expected to reach Norwegian air space on [...]
Scandinavians in mid-air brawl
May 9, 2011
Two Norwegians and a Swede started fighting on board a flight from Oslo to Cyprus during the weekend, leading the captain to land in Copenhagen to get help from Danish police. All three men, at least one of whom was intoxicated, were taken into custody, reported wire service AFP and The Local (external link) of [...]
Flights delayed at Gardermoen
April 7, 2011
A new arrival route system that’s being installed to serve flights landing at Oslo’s main airport at Gardermoen (OSL) was causing delays of up to three hours on Thursday. Flights may also be delayed over the next three weeks. The new system, called Point Merge, has forced OSL to reduce airspace capacity during April. Civil [...]
Pilots upset over lower-paid colleagues
April 4, 2011
Discount carrier Norwegian Air has opened a new base in Helsinki, but its pilots are unhappy because the airline is using pilots from Estonia who have accepted wages that are much lower than those paid to pilots in either Norway or Finland. “We’re doing this of course because it means we can fly cheaper,” Anne-Sissel [...]
Mysterious flight closed airport
March 25, 2011
The skies were blue and sunny, the runways clear of snow and ice, and traffic should have flowed routinely through Oslo’s main airport at Gardermoen (OSL) after a rough winter. Instead, the airport was forced to close on a busy spring afternoon, because of a mysterious aircraft that entered its air space and stayed there. [...]
Fog shuts Bergen’s airport
February 28, 2011
Passengers were frustrated and airport officials were hoping for the best on Monday, after thick fog forced closure of Bergen’s Flesland Airport. Flights were disrupted from just before 10am and throughout the day. Many flights were redirected to Stavanger’s airport at Sola. A few flights managed to land at Flesland when the fog cleared briefly. [...]
Crash-landing for airline inspectors’ free flights
February 15, 2011
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) revealed over the weekend that former employees of Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) who went on to become inspectors for the Civil Aviation Administration (Luftfartstilsynet) kept their free-flight privileges. Not anymore. Transport Minister Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa from the Center Party quickly grounded the inspectors’ practice of accepting free flights not only for themselves but [...]
Losses continue to plague SAS
February 10, 2011
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) hit the front page of most major Norwegian newspapers on Thursday, for all the wrong reasons. Once again, the once-proud flag carrier had reported huge losses, and not many bail-out options remain. “Don’t give them more money,” blared the front page of newspaper Dagsavisen, quoting the business policy spokesman for Norway’s most [...]
