2023-10-04 09:30:06
SThe first emblem had three flags on its outstretched wings, the white cross of the Danes, the blue of the Norwegians and the yellow of the Swedes. The Scandinavians did not wait for Europe to unite their interests. From 1946, they merged their national companies into a single flag, that of SAS, held by the three States. A very symbolic sharing of sovereignty, which successive crises and Covid-19 have shattered. In 2018, Norway sold its shares, and in 2022, Sweden refused to participate in yet another bailout, pushing the company into the protection of US bankruptcy law.
Only Denmark persists. He is participating in the new round of financing, which will have as its first shareholder an American investment fund, Castlelake, and brings in the Air France-KLM group through the front door. Out of a total contribution of just over 1 billion euros, the majority will be contributed by Castlelake, which will hold 32% of the capital, followed by the Danish State, with 26%, and the Franco-Dutch company , at 20%.
A strategic operation for Air France-KLM, which, by investing just 145 million euros, regains a significant ally. SAS, a founding member of Star Alliance, Lufthansa’s network, will join rival Skyteam. But, above all, the parent company of Air France has an option to become the controlling shareholder of the Scandinavian in two years.
National companies give up their arms
A big turnaround for a company which lost 11 billion euros in the health crisis, was saved by the French State and finds itself today, after almost two profitable years, in a position to participate in the end of consolidation of the European sky.
Through successive crises, national companies owned by their States are giving up their arms, in a business with very uncertain margins and formidable low-cost competitors. Air France opened the way by merging with the Dutch KLM, then British Airways did the same with the Spanish Iberia, and Lufthansa gobbled up the Swiss, Austrian and Belgian companies before taking over the former Alitalia. On September 28, the Portuguese government announced that it was putting TAP, its very active pavilion in Latin America, up for sale. The three giants of the European sky, barely recovered from the Covid-19 crisis, are already in the running. This will be the last piece of choice.
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