SAS announced on Sunday that they will temporarily halt most of their flights based on government restrictions and substantially reduced demand due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The carrier will also furlough up to 10,000 employees, or 90% of its workforce.
Today, SAS announced that they will be temporarily halting most of their flights starting Monday, March 16, 2020, until further notice. Due to government restrictions and non-existent demand related to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the carrier will suspend most flights until demand starts to return and commercial aviation operations are once again possible. Additionally, the airline will temporarily reduce its workforce by up to 10,000 team members or 90% of their total workforce. Out of consideration for their guests, SAS will continue to operate flights over the next few days, where possible, to facilitate repatriation for their customers.
UPDATE (March 16, 2020):
SAS announced Monday that they will continue to operate routes and destinations with limited service. Domestically, the carrier will continue to operate all routes with few exceptions. Intra-Scandinavian routes between the Scandinavian capitals as well as Copenhagen to Bergen, Gothenburg and Stavanger continue to operate. European routes to Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Frankfurt, Helsinki, London-Heathrow, Manchester, Paris, Reykjavik, Zurich, Alicante, Las Palmas, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Nice and Athens also continue to operate on a limited basis.
Additionally, SAS continues to operate flights between Copenhagen and New York, Chicago and Tokyo, as well as service between Stockholm and New York. Currently, the carrier is also offering limited service to other destinations in Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain and Turkey.
SAS is the leading airline in Scandinavia and serves over 30 million guests annually. The carrier offers 125 destinations in Europe, the US and Asia and has a fleet of over 150 aircraft. SAS values their Scandinavian heritage and promotes sustainable aviation. The airline has targeted a reduction in carbon emissions by 25% by 2030 compared to 2005 and hopes to transition to 100% bio-fuel for domestic flights by 2030 as well. SAS is also a founding member of the global Star Alliance® which, together with their airline partners, offers nearly 19,000 daily flights to over 1,300 destinations worldwide.
Source: SAS
Editor's Note: We stand by the entire SAS team and all airlines during this difficult period as the entire world fights to limit the transmission of, and ultimately recover from, the global COVID-19 pandemic. Once it has been defeated, we look forward to the emergence of an even stronger and more robust global commercial airline industry.