It was way back in 1971 that SAS put its first two Boeing 747 jumbo jets into service. According to Ultraswank, the selection of the 747 was an answer to the mass tourism boom of the late 1960s. The Scandinavian carrier named the first two jumbo jets “Huge Viking” and “Ivar Viking”. Refering to old Norse mythology. So what happened to these vikings of the sky? Let's find out!

The first 747s came to SAS in 1971. Photo: SAS Museet via Flickr

A different approach

According to Chris Alm, the approach to cabin design and configuration was different at SAS. In fact, the aircraft were fitted with only 353 seats "in order to give the feeling of more space and comfort". According to Airliners.net a typical three-class configuration 747 fits 397 passengers.
In an August 1979 report by the New York Times, Scandinavian Airlines System announced that it would be ordering two more 747s in addition to its two passenger jumbos and two combis. The order was valued at $135 million at the time.
From there, a few more 747s joined the fleet over the years according to Airfleets. The total number of 747s that joined the SAS fleet was 12, which was a mix of fully passenger variants and passenger-cargo combis.

Market decline

Over time, SAS was unable to reach the cargo and passenger capacity it needed to remain profitable. According to Ultraswank, the Scandinavian market of 17 million inhabitants in the 1970s was just not enough. Therefore, in 1987, SAS sold its last remaining Boeing 747 (although a cargo 747 did join the fleet for about a year in 1996).
Where did the 747s go after leaving SAS? The short answer: everywhere. The jets went on to fly with airlines all around the world including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Nigeria Airways, Avianca, Aer Lingus, Air Algerie, and many more. A few of the jets were then converted into full cargo planes and flew with cargo airlines like UPS and Polar Air Cargo. Many of the planes are now listed by Airfleets as 'stored' while some have been logged as 'scrapped'. The 747s were largely replaced by the Airbus A340, of which the airline has seven according to Airfleets. These planes joined the fleet in 2001 and 2002 and still fly with the airline today. However, these planes are slowly being retired from the fleet. Looking to the future

For now, at least, we won't be seeing any aircraft as large as the 747 join the SAS fleet. However, in just a few months SAS passengers may find themselves on one of the airline's eight brand new Airbus A350 aircraft.

“Our new fleet is incredibly well suited to Scandinavian travel patterns and tailored to meet market demands. This new aircraft will strengthen our customer offering,” -Karl Sandlund, SAS Executive Vice President Commercial.

SAS A350
The SAS A350 will sport a brand new livery. Photo: SAS

Conclusion

It seems like the short time SAS had 747s was indicative of the 'golden age' of air travel with spacious seating and comfort. Did you ever have the opportunity to fly on an SAS 747? How was the experience? Let us know by leaving a comment!