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In 1938, Ludvig G.Braathen applied by the Norwegian government for
concessions to operate the transatlantic scheduled service Oslo-London-New York with flying-boats. However the concession was
denied, the Braathens Shipping Company worked on to establish an aviation company, and finally Braathens Airtransport A/S was
founded on 26 March 1946. On 26 December 1946 Braathens received their first aircraft, the Douglas C-54A LN-HAV, and operations
started in February 1947. The fleet and workload expanded rapidly and in 1949 Braathens received a 5-years concession to operate the regular service
Oslo-Hamburg-Geneve-Rome-Athens-Cairo-Abadan-Karachi-Bombay-Calcuta-Bagkok-Hong Kong and the service was opened on 5 August 1949 using a DC-4.
In this period Braathens Airtransport A/S was renamed Braathens South American & Far Eastern Airtransport A/S. In 1952, after the establishment of the
Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), Braathens was told that the connection for the Hong Kong service would not be renewed in 1954 as the
S.A.S. should be the only Scandinavian airline which was allowed to operate scheduled flights to and from Norway. Braathens S.A.F.E. was for
this reason forced to cancel their order for two Lockheed L-1049C Super Constellations and to rebuild the airline's structure. Braathens
S.A.F.E. decided next to flying their charters to concentrate on building up a domestic network in Norway. In 1952, the service
Oslo-Tronheim-Stavanger was inaugurated, soon followed by routes to destinations as Bergen, Tromsø, Bodø, Narvik / Harstad (Evenes), Molde,
Alesund, Kristiansund, Bardufoss, Haugesund and Kristiansand operated by De Havilland DH-114 Heron and Douglas DC-3 and DC-4 aircraft which
were from 1959 replaced by Fokker F-27. In 1958, Braathens took over scheduled services of the defunct V.L.S.-Vestlandske Luftfahrtselskap A/S.
In 1969, the first jet aircraft, a Fokker F-28 Fellowship entered the fleet, followed by
different types of jet aircraft, including the Boeing 737-205. In 1989, Braathens S.A.F.E. was certified again to fly international routes in
addition to the domestic ones. In 1996, Braathens took over Transwede, and in 1998 Malmo Aviation. That was also the year that KLM bought
a 30% part ownership in Braathens and Braathens formed an alliance with the KLM. In 2001, Braathens became part of the SAS group after SAS
had made an agreement with the KLM (30%) and the Braathen family (38,8%) to buy their stock of shares. That year, Braathens dropped the SAFE
from their name, and the company was renamed Braathens Airlines. After the Norwegian Competition Authority has decided on that SAS could
buy Braathens Airlines; Braathens Airlines and Scandinavian Airlines System (S.A.S.) joined forces early 2004 as SAS Braathens Airlines. |
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On 9 May 1976, Braathens S.A.F.E. Boeing 737-205 LN-SUH "Sigurd Jorssalfar" flew first. The aircraft was
registered witht Braathens S.A.F.E. A/S on 20 May 1976. After the registration LN-SUH was cancelled in 1988, the Boeing became N7031A and CC-CYD.
On 3 October 2002, the Boeing 737 was registered LV-ZZA with Southern Wings.In 2006, the Boeing was withdrawn from use and stored at Cordoba.
On
18 April 1984, the Braathens S.A.F.E.' Boeing 737-205 LN-SUH was seen at Groningen Airport Eelde (GRQ). |
