Interview: SAS CEO Explains Why the Airline Embedded a Microchip in Employee’s Hand
Photo Credit: SAS CEO Rickard Gustafson is tying to make his carrier more nimble so it can take on both low cost carriers and full-service competition. SAS / Peter Knutson
Skift Take
It's a tough time to be a small, full-service airline in Europe. But SAS CEO Rickard Gustafson is trying to ensure his airline can compete both with low cost airlines, like Norwegian, and massive legacy airlines like Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM.
Future of Passenger Experience
To better understand the challenges facing airlines in an age of fluctuating oil prices, rapid growth, and changing passenger expectations, our Future of Passenger Experience series will allow leaders in the industry to explain their best practices and insights.For most of its 70-year history, Scandinavia's SAS innovated more than most airlines. It was the first carrier to fly directly over the North Pole, show in-flight movies, establish regular around-the-world service, and hire a female pilot.
But most of its big innovations happened years ago. For the last couple of decades, SAS has been in a difficult situation. As an independent airline with about 150 aircraft, it's tiny compared to Europe's big players — Lufthansa Group, Air France-KLM and International Airlines Group, owner of British Airways and Iberia Airlines. And while it is lowering its costs, SAS is not as nimble as Europe's leading low cost airlines, like Easyjet, Ryanair and Norwegian Air, its scrappy Scandinavian competitor.
Since joining SAS in 2014, CEO Rickard Gustafson has been trying to make it more competitive. Perhaps his biggest — and most unusual — strategy is his decision to create a new airline based in Ireland, where SAS wil
