Crisis management
SAS management’s decision to rid themselves of the Q400 could well become a future textbook reference in crisis management. If so, it should be a riveting read.
They would obviously be looking at risking very big money whichever way they went. Loss of passenger confidence on the one hand (which could contaminate other business), loss of revenue, expensive lawsuits, massive staff disruption on the other. The immediate need for an unequivocal decision without all the facts to hand and knowing that when one of those facts does surface it could turn your “right decision at the time” on its head.
Time will tell whether SAS did the right thing; I suspect they did and I do look forward to the story when it's all eventually pieced together. Bombardier are facing a similar crisis and I wonder how they're handling it. The "disappointed" press release doesn't quite cut it.