On Sunday (19), at 5:37 pm, The Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) officially said goodbye to their last Boeing 737 at the service afterwards three decades of operation.
The symbolic flight, which acts as SK 737 embarked on a journey from Stockholm/Arlanda (ARN) and Oslo/Gardermoen (OSL) with a detour to fly over Copenhagen, the airline’s three main bases. The last flight was made with a Boeing 737-700 with registration LN-RRB.
With 141 passengers who obtained special tickets for this important occasion in September, the last flight celebrated its journey by carving a ‘700’ symbol in the sky, representing the variant of the famous twin-engine which runs the farewell flight.
SAS press spokesperson Tonje Sundt commented: “This aircraft flew for more than four years and eight months in terms of flight hours, a total of 1,760 days, and completed 31,499 cycles, that is, landings and takeoffs .”
It also marks the end of relations with an American manufacturer, dating back to 1946, when SAS was formed starting with the Douglas DC-4 Skymaster aircraft.
From 1993, SAS operates more than 100 aircraft consists of five different variants of the popular American-made model, including Boeing 737-400 (2009-2013), -500 (1993-2013), -600 (1998-2019), – 700 (2000-2023) y -800 (2000-2023).
A Boeing 737-700 (LN-RPJ) will continue in operation until 2024 under an agreement with the Norwegian military, configured as a MEDEVAC aircraft.
SAS and the transition of a factory: Airbus
This decision is an important aspect of the process of changing the plane, referring to streamline your fleet with one manufacturer. However, SAS continues to have contracts to operate the aircraft Embraer, ATR and Bombardier CRJ through wet leasing, serving regional and national markets with low demand.
According to data from the Cirium Fleet, the SAS fleet, with a total of 125 aircraft, including Airbus A319 (4), Airbus A320ceo (11), Airbus A320neo (36), Airbus A321neo (3), Airbus A330-300 (8), Airbus A350-900. (3), ATR 72-600 (7) and CRJ 900 (17).
This standardized fleet is set to help the airline recover from bankruptcy protection as a result of high operating costs and reduced traffic amid the COVID-19 health crisis.
SAS recently reported that investors agreed to inject $1.21 million in cash to strengthen the airline’s financial position.
