Air France-KLM intends to become a majority stakeholder in Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), a move that will more closely align SAS with Air France-KLM and may spell the end of the SAS EuroBonus program.
Air France-KLM Moves To Majority Stake in SAS, Closer Integration With French-Dutch Group
If all goes according to plan, Air France-KLM will soon take majority control of Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), expanding its stake from 19.9% to 60.5%. The group is acquiring shares currently held by Castlelake and Lind Invest, while the Danish government will retain a 26.4% stake and continue to hold a seat on the SAS board.
The transaction, which is still subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the second half of 2026. Air France-KLM frames the deal as a major milestone that deepens its reach into Northern Europe and strengthens its competitive position against IAG and Lufthansa Group.
What the Deal Means
- Majority ownership: Air France-KLM will control 60.5% of SAS following the closing of the deal.
- Private equity exits: The move involves buying out Castlelake and Lind Invest, who played key roles in SAS’s restructuring process last year.
- State remains: The Danish government holds onto its stake and maintains board representation.
A New Era for SAS
Once the deal is finalized, SAS will be more tightly integrated into the Air France-KLM network. This includes deeper cooperation across loyalty programs, schedules, hubs, and joint ventures. SAS already moved from Star Alliance to SkyTeam last autumn and will re-align its fare classes to match those of Air France and KLM.
This new step would allow Air France-KLM and SAS to fully unlock their synergy potential via a comprehensive integration in all areas of business, including loyalty, and would extend beyond commercial activities
AF-KLM CEO Ben Smith called the acquisition a “win-win” and praised SAS’s “successful” restructuring efforts, adding, “SAS has delivered impressive performance.” SAS CEO Anko van der Werff called the move “historic,” adding that the airline industry continues to consolidate across Europe and SAS is now in a stronger position for long-term stability and growth.
Regulatory Hurdles + Market Impact
The deal still requires approval from the European Commission, though Air France-KLM argues that low-cost competitors like Norwegian ensure continued market competition in Scandinavia. If approved, the deal will give the group broader access to Northern Europe and bolster its long-haul ambitions.
RIP EuroBonus?
One key synergy would be the integration of SAS into Flying Blue, which has some advantages, but some distinct disadvantages as well.
I’ll do a separate post on this, but I’ve come to quite like EuroBonus. When you fly SAS, prices are good, availability decent, fees low, and I love that EuroBonus Gold members can bring their entire family into the lounge. Furthermore, child mileage tickets are half price. It would not be the end of the world to have two million Flying Blue miles, but I quite like EuroBonus in its present form.
CONCLUSION
Air France-KLM’s move to become the majority owner of SAS signals another round of consolidation in Europe’s airline industry. While national control remains a factor, this acquisition will give Air France-KLM greater network reach and solidify SkyTeam’s growing presence in Scandinavia. SAS, which just emerged from restructuring, now enters a new chapter under the wing of one of Europe’s most powerful airline groups.
Sounds like one can also purchase SAF with SK flights in the future if one desires status but does not fly as often or needs a little bit of a boost to maintain Plat.
Personally think that SK will be more of the European regional carrier for ST based on the plane orders and with the fact that RO is very unreliable, AZ was acquired by LH and leaving for *A, and OK ceased operations. Also with SK’s pushes for better soft products in Euro J and hopefully this leads to KL to wake up and providing better service especially in Euro and longhaul J.
RO are very small nowadays. It’s basically inconceivable that the flag carrier of a European country with a population of 25 million people and an enormous diaspora can have no flights whatsoever to the UK, Germany, or Poland.
Skyteam need another member in the South. Air Serbia would be the obvious choice, but there’s also Skyexpress in Greece whose domestic connections are already offered on the AFKL websites. If they could maintain CSA as a member even when it was down to one plane, they should have a way of signing up another smallish European member.
RO does fly to FRA…
Didn’t realise they flew to Frankfurt, I hadn’t been able to find a workable connection there when doing the SAS challenge so assumed they had stopped flying there. Nonetheless, it’s just a single destination among these three very major countries, none of which is very far from OTP.
Might not hurt to do some research before posting 😉
Can’t argue with that! 😀
keep in mind the great Iberian shootout is yet to be decided with Air Europa and TAP in play.
ITA is simply the least valuable airline in Europe for connections except those in Greece.
airlines in Spain and Portugal have much higher connecting potential and MAD has the space; LIS does not.
Southern Europe is a very hot market and that probably will not change.
the chances are high that AF/KL will end up w/ Air Europa in addition to SK – which will create a wall from MAD to CDG to AMS to CPH along western continental Europe – on top of VS/DL at LHR.
oneworld will find it much harder to find growth airlines while LH Group will continue to struggle with hubs that are way too far east and, in the case of ITA, SE to be of near as much value as SkyTeam’s hubs.
The Greek airlines are very valuable for connections in Europe as they provide a great gateway to the Near/Middle East region which can be easily serviced by narrowbody planes. Aegean somehow manage to have partnerships with Saudia, Emirates and Etihad, all at the same time!
They’re obviously not very good for connections within Europe- but you’re wrong to discount Italy as LIN is pretty well placed for those connections.
and that is true for every hub that is northwest of Greece. The largest that also do a great job of connecting transatlantic passengers.
The simple reality is that large markets as far to the west and north are best suited for the highest value connections.
UA itself has said that LH Group’s hubs are too far east which is why UA flies so much on its own metal to medium sized western European cities
LHR is a great hub but is restricted in size. MAD is better but further south for the majority of the TATL traffic flows. and MAD is a much smaller hub than AMS, CDG, FRA etc.
SkyTeam is best suited with the SAS acquisition and likely addition of Air Europa to the JV will give the SkyTeam JV the best positioned set of hubs.
They’re just different markets.
If I am travelling from central Europe to JED, I won’t want to do a six hour overnight flight where I know I am not going to get a meaningful amount of sleep even if I pay a massive premium for a flat seat. I would rather travel during the day, connect at ATH (maybe even CAI/BEY) and get there ready for bed. If I’m going from ORD to JED, a connection in Central Europe again doesn’t seem that attractive as it’ll be 8+6 hours instead of 11+3 via IST. If I’m going from MTY to JED [and assuming I’m not masochistic enough to connect in the US], I’d need to fly via MAD as there aren’t other transatlantic options unless I’m prepared to backtrack to MEX and connect twice.
Eurobonus is one of the few programmes that’s actually better than it looks. The only real drawbacks are the pathetic amount of miles given for flying partner airlines in Y- 10-25% of distance flown is pathetic, and it often applies to some booking classes which are quite expensive- and the confinement of segment-based qualification to SK’s own flights.
Redemptions are more or less competitively priced and, more importantly, structured in a way that doesn’t seek to penalise members (e.g. by slapping huge YQs like VS, charging additional miles for taking a connection in the absence of a direct flight like BA/IB or even charging additional miles for not taking a connection like the new, dynamically priced More and More Miles).
Flying Blue has become extremely dodgy nowadays, partner redemptions are priced ridiculously high, even for tickets that are being issued without any luggage allowance etc. I need to start making use of that million before Mr Lipsey and his colleagues destroy most of its value.
All of the traditional Euro trunkline carriers are seeking dance partners (ie: alliances) for it is near impossible to survive solo. Especially, the smaller Flag carriers. Either join the party, and whither away as Euro ULLC carriers gobble their share of the home market.
Need an analysis on the current and potential Euro dance partners. As an example, the Luft Group which slices Europe right down the middle with Brussels, Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, and now ITA.
Lots of three-dimensional chess here; lots of debutantes scrambling to get their dance card punched by the right suitor.
Did I fail to mention that Luft Group just picked up a part of AirBaltic.
This debutante has been spoke for!!