One of the great books to come out at EUROPEAN AIRLINES this year will be about the Scandinavian Airlines System and its predecessors. One hundred years ago, a small Danish company, DDL, began a scheduled passenger service from a naval station in Copenhagen. Sweden with ABA, and later DNL in Norway, also developed significant air links with the rest of Europe. The occupation of Denmark and Norway, during the Second World War disrupted services for a time, but soon after peace returned, putting cultural, geographic and economic issues aside, the three airlines combined their resources to establish the world’s first cross-border alliance under the name of Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS). It was a great day for Scandinavia. SAS remained true to the pioneering spirit of its ancestors and went on to establish a global network, ready for the next century.
The professional aviation journalist Günter Endres has made a beautiful book in full color about the history of the airline. It is highly recommended.
Book reviews:
Flyhistorie Nr. 60-June 2021 by Knut Erik Hagen
Airliner World -December 2020
Svensk Flyghistorisk Tidsskrift 6/2020 by Ola Laveson
(Simple English translation – pdf)
