SAS Scandinavian Airlines

Is SAS safe?

Yes. SAS Scandinavian Airlines has not had a fatal accident in 25 years, it flies a young fleet under European oversight, and it carried 28.3 million passengers in its 2024/25 financial year. We score it 87, close to its Nordic rival Norwegian at 89. The points it loses come from a cluster of landing-gear failures in 2007 and from a 2026 incident in Brussels that ended well only because the crew stopped in time.

The take-off from a taxiway in Brussels

On the evening of 5 February 2026, flight SK2590 to Copenhagen, an Airbus A320neo with 152 passengers and 6 crew, was cleared to take off from runway 07R at Brussels. The crew lined up on the parallel taxiway instead and started the take-off roll. They rejected it at about 100 knots and stopped near the end of the taxiway, short of the airport's fuel tanks. Nobody was hurt, and passengers were bussed back to the terminal.

Taxiway take-offs are rare and very dangerous: taxiways are narrower than runways, have no runway lighting at the end, and may have vehicles or aircraft on them. Belgium's investigators opened a case; their report will show what confused the crew at night. This one event is the main reason the incidents score is 78 rather than in the 80s.

Other recent events were handled well. In November 2024 an A330 struck its tail on take-off from a snowy Stockholm Arlanda and diverted to Copenhagen with substantial damage. In August 2025 an A320 bound for Alicante diverted to Brussels after a pilot became unwell, and in August 2026 an A350 returned to Copenhagen after the crew shut down an engine with low oil pressure.

What went wrong with the Dash 8s in 2007?

The two aircraft SAS has written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary in the last 20 years were both Dash 8-400 turboprops, lost within four days. On 9 September 2007 at Aalborg and on 12 September at Vilnius, the right main landing gear collapsed on landing. Investigators found the same cause in both: corrosion in a threaded joint of the gear actuator. Everyone got out, and SAS grounded its Q400 fleet. When a third Q400 lost its right gear at Copenhagen on 27 October, after the fleet returned, from a stray O-ring left by a parts replacement, SAS took the type out of service for good.

A CRJ900 flown for SAS by the partner airline Cimber was written off at Copenhagen in February 2016, when its wing hit a tractor during an engine test run. It had no passengers on board.

How old is the SAS fleet?

Young. SAS's annual report puts the fleet at 140 aircraft on 31 October 2025, averaging 8.9 years. It includes 88 A320-family jets averaging six years, 78 of them A320neos, and 4 Airbus A350s averaging five. The older parts are 8 A330s (14.2 years) and 15 Embraer E195s (13.8). SAS has ordered 45 Embraer E195-E2s for 2027 to 2031, and two more A350s.

Who flies your SAS flight?

SAS runs several operating companies: SAS Scandinavia flies the long-haul and most short-haul jets, SAS Connect (based in Ireland) and SAS Link fly A320neos and E195s, and regional partners fly 24 CRJ900s and ATR 72s on SAS flight numbers. Each has its own certificate. We score SAS on the airlines in the group and count the partners separately, as we do for KLM and its Cityhopper flights.

Flying SAS: what to check

• Wear your belt whenever you are seated. SAS's most frequent injuries in recent years came from turbulence, mostly to cabin crew still standing during descent.
• Winter delays are part of the job. De-icing queues at Oslo and Stockholm and closures at Arctic airports can cost hours. They are a safety step, not a failure.
• Check "operated by" on short regional routes if you want to know which partner and aircraft you will fly.

How we scored it

Oversight (92) and the accident record (88) carry SAS: no fatal accident since an airport collision that was not its crew's fault, and two old turboprop write-offsHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary. A young fleet scores 86. The Brussels taxiway take-off holds incidents at 78, and Nordic winters put the environment at 85. Overall 87, level with Lufthansa.