Hannibal Lecter

SAS has reached a major milestone in its ongoing chapter 11 process in the U.S. and has selected Castlelake, L.P., on behalf of certain funds or affiliates (“Castlelake”),
Air France-KLM S.A. (“Air France-KLM”) and Lind Invest ApS (“Lind Invest”), together with the Danish state (collectively, the “Investors”) as the winning bidder consortium in its exit financing solicitation process.

As part of the transaction, SAS is intended to eventually join the SkyTeam Alliance (“SkyTeam”), of which Air France-KLM is a founding member, and exit the Star Alliance, subject to any relevant approvals and emergence from the chapter 11 process.
https://www.sasgroup.net/newsroom/press-releases/2023/sas-reaches-major-milestone-in-sas-forward--announces-the-winning-consortium-including-details-of-the-transaction-structure/



https://www.airfranceklm.com/en/finance/publications/latest-financial-press-releases

Fabo.sk

Discussion in SAS forum: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/sas-...o-skyteam.html

San Gottardo

That is a *MAJOR* shift in the European airline landscape! As much as ITA/Alitalia becoming part of Lufthansa Group.

SAS was a founding member of Star Alliance. Let's see who picks up TAP. And whether there are any other alliance shifts on the horizon. Out of existing alliance members, LOT is not in great health, neither is Croatian. CSA could be a candidate if someone really wanted to revive a zombie. Other than than there are very few unaffiliated non-LCC carriers. Air Baltic is one, Air Malta another, are there others? Most other airlines are either (i) already part of one of the three groups (AFKL, LHG, IAG) and not in a position where ownership to a non-alliance shareholder would change (ii) independent LCCs (Ryanair, Easyjet, Wizzair, Volotea, Norwegian...) that might be picked up to strengthen the LCC offering of one of the large 3 groups, but not become partner in an alliance (iii) or small independent niche carriers, such as Luxair, arguably Croatian if not considered one of the not-healthy-larger-ones, Tarom, DAT, and a couple of others.

hhdl

"Carsten... trade you SAS for Alitalia... xoxo Ben"

irishguy28

OMG

they kept this quiet!

And there I was thinking they were focused on TAP

nldogbert

Not that really happy with this news - as SAS Plus fare was quite a good buy for those occasional top up needed for some of the *A program to maintain status. I wonder what will happen when they move to ST.to the Plus fare earnings.
Also I wonder if the regulators will view this favorably since the AF-KLM group is quite strong already in Scandinavia - will this purchase not impact the competition scene.

Cheers!

kprrr

I guess some Scandinavian routes of KLM will now go to SAS as they have to give up slots in Amsterdam anyway. This way they won't lose too much business.

DL116

This is great news for the Scandinavia lover in me... I used to enjoy artic trips to Tromsø while I was still active on Star Alliance, and I've often opted for trips to other places where I could get on Sky just for the purpose of not wanting to miss out on a XP... Scandinavia, I'll be back!

Well, for the airline I hope that it will pan out, knowing that SK is a mess with its 28 unions and so on. There are good reasons that they never made money. However, SAS could be a good tradeoff for ITA...

RoyalSwazi

I most certainly hope not — KL has a better product than SK.

On a personal level I’ve used AF extensively when visiting my dad who lives in a place served by both KL and AF, but no European Star carrier.

hhdl

If SK joins Flying Blue, prior precedents (e.g. CO and US) would suggest that any transitional period could be an opportunity to effectively use SK-coded LH/LX/OS/UA/etc. operated (and possibly even *A-coded) flights to earn what would become FB XP and miles and effectively M&M status (assuming, as seems likely, that LH will try to get SK elites to stay in *A).

Goldorak

This is a very interesting and great news for SKYTEAM and very good to see a healthy AFKL group coming back in the acquisition game

NickB

IMO, that is a complete non-issue. By "regulators", I suspect that you mean competition authorities? If so, I can't see any major issue from a competition law perspective. they will look at route pairs on which there will be a substantial decrease in competition as a result of the acquisition (so that will be mainly CDG/AMS to CPH/ARN/OSL) and are likely to ask AFKL/SK to make a number of slots available should a new entrant wish to enter those routes. I don't see that as being a major issue for AFKL and something that would lead them to reconsider the deal.

Solevita

It doesn't sound like SK will be joining FB in the near term, and why would they? AFKL only have a 20% share.

Hannibal Lecter

That may increase in two years

Definitive agreements between the members of the Consortium would include specific provisions whereby
Air France-KLM’s stake may be increased such that Air France-KLM may become a controlling shareholder, after a minimum of two years,
subject to among other things, certain regulatory conditions and financial performance.

https://www.airfranceklm.com/en/news...al-cooperation

irishguy28

I agree; I don't think that merging EuroBonus into Flying Blue is going to be anywhere near the top of their to-do list.

In the fullness of time, when AFKL eventually have a controlling stake in the airline, then perhaps they will look at it again, but that won't be for a good 3 years at the very least.