Let me start by stating that I DON'T LIKE WHATS GOING ON AT SAS NOW. I would prefer to take it back to the eighties with monopoly, lighter workload and those wonderful DC8/9/10s. No kiddin'.
But!
Those are not the days anymore.
Lets face it, SAS is under fire every day from more and more costcutting carriers, be that from within SAS or not. SAS is not guaranteed survival anymore. If EasyRyan should choose to expand even further in Sandinavia, even hire a smaller airline to fly the thinner routes, guess what will happen: The airline with the cheapest tickets will survive. If SAS dosn't reduce its costbase, I just don't see where SAS will fit in in a future scandinavian routenetwork, except for doing a few feeding flts to/from cph/arn/osl. That is the effect of open skies.
So, "if you cant beat them, join them". Not an interesting solution, I agree, but what else to do? That means cost-cutting whereever possible. Why not have the cheapest carrier within SAS operate a flight? Come on, so far we have only seen Blue1 to/from Finland, some time in the near future, the may start flights from Denmark/Sweden to mainland Europe. What will the unions do? Go on strike (again like the good old days)? Or face the music and agree to work at the same level as the LoCos?
Speaking of starting a strike, I'll just throw a few thoughts of my own in here:
The "weapon" of striking ought to be used in case ofworking in an environment not suitable for working (dangerous) or fundamentally wrong working conditions. A strike is justified when, e.g. pilots claim that flying 14 hrs without breaks are unsafe. Its not justified when empolyees claim that its unfair that a cheaper airline fly on routes that the strikers used to fly themselves (again, this cloud be done in the eighties).
Sorry, back to SAS.
Many employees keep blaming Lindegaard of whats happening with SAS today, the laying offs, the working harder and the everclosing competitors. WAKE UP !!!! SAS had it coming, Lindegaard or not, he's just another CEO trying to pick up the pieces. Ask yourself this: "What could I have done differently, if I had been in his shoes?" A lot come to my mind, but my (crazy) plans require a sh!tload of money, money that SAS dosn't have for the time being. Outlawing LoCos. Reinstating monopoly. Bringing back the DC8 (allright, mabye not a vsensible solution).
Its fairly somple: SAS need to make money to survive (and expand when time comes). To do that, they need to cut costs.
I agree, strange no one mentioned commuter
Hardhat/flakjacket on, tug in, and wait for the flaming. /FS