Wise words. I would contest that SAS was a "Disruptive innovator" itself in 1983/4. The guiding principle being "make the customer happy through punctuality, motivated staff, and decent service, and they'll come back for more". Back then, this was a radical concept among the mainly nationalised airlines of Europe. BA borrowed much from the SAS success story.
But times change.
Circa 1987, in one of Jan Carlzon's communications, one of the possible threats he outlined was that of budget carriers serving unusual city pairs, and hence syphoning traffic from a small market base.
Hamar-Aberdeen was one of those quoted. We all thought this was ludicrous and utterly unlikely, added for amusement alone.
Now, as I browse Flightradar 24, I find aircraft serving the most unlikely places. Such as Oslo(?! Rygge) - Liverpool, Billund-Edinburgh, and Stockholm(?! Skavsta)-Dublin.
The whole game has changed, much as SAS's former leader and visionary warned it would.
"I have a feeling that we're not in Kansas any more"
Or, "I have a feeling that we're not in 1988 any more". It's one thing knowing what to do, but it's another doing it.
One of the nicest smells on board in that period was decent fresh coffee from the galley. Sadly, SAS needs to wake up and smell some.
Last edited by Midland 331; 18th Nov 2012 at 09:30.