A sad day for a prestigious brand and a proud, loyal workforce. I worked on the commercial side from '85-'94. At one point in the late-'eighties, in world airline terms, they were around 22 in passenger numbers, and number 3 in profitability, behind AA and SQ. Most UK-Scandi. routes ran with the curtain around five rows from the back, making economy class a exclusive section (!)
Jan Carlzon repeatedly warned about their cost base as far back as 1988. He also predicted the current European alliances (KL/AF, BA/IB, etc), and when he suggested that the rise and rise of lo-cos would threaten the traffic base of premier legacy carriers, we hardly believed him.. He was absolutely right. I'd love to know his thoughts today.