SAS’ CEO Anko van der Werff on realigning one of Europe’s most iconic airlines

In September 2024, Scandinavian Airlines, most commonly referred to as SAS, gathered staff, members of the media and partners at a venue on the outskirts of Copenhagen to mark the successful completion of one of the most momentous shifts in its decades-long history.  

The Nordic carrier had not only exited a complex and life-saving restructuring process but had done so while performing one of the most radical realignments of any major airline in recent years, switching from Star Alliance to the competing SkyTeam airline alliance. 

And at the helm of SAS during this eventful period, was Anko van der Werff, the Dutch aviation executive who joined the Scandinavian carrier as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in 2021.  

Prior to his move to Scandinavia, Van der Werff had held senior management positions at several major carriers, including CEO at Colombian carrier Avianca, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Aeromexico, and Senior Vice President of Pricing and Revenue Management at Qatar Airways as well as several regional directorships at KLM, the flag carrier of his home country. 

Throughout his time at these positions, van der Werff established a reputation for strategic thinking and operational excellence in challenging aviation markets, demonstrating particular skill in airline turnarounds and commercial transformations. 

As the first anniversary of SAS joining the SkyTeam alliance approaches, AeroTime spoke with Van der Werff about what this pivotal change has meant for the historical airline and what’s in store for the future. 

The conversation began with the fundamental question, what is the financial situation at SAS restructuring?  

“As a short answer: it is much, much better. There have clearly been lots of improvements. We have come out with a significant number of changes when it comes to who SAS used to be and who SAS is today, not least the fact that we have new owners,” van der Werff said, referring to the change in the airline’s capital structure.   

The airline executive also highlighted the advantages offered by each new major investor: the business orientation of private equity firm Castlelake, the presence of the Danish state, which anchors SAS in its Scandinavian home, and finally, Air France-KLM, which now owns 19.9% of SAS. The latter is particularly strategic for SAS since it links the carrier to one of Europe’s largest airline groups at a time of growing consolidation in the industry. 

Anko van der Werff. Picture: SAS“This [change of ownership] sets up so many different things for the company,”a van der Werff explained. “Different owners mean a different board. It means different views on how to run the business, what do we think is important…and this gets reflected within the company.”  

Next, van der Werff went on to comment on the airline’s improved performance over the last few months. 

“Load factor is at an all-time high, which is good, because I think it was low. But we’re getting to at least levels that I’m more comfortable with. That has a very positive impact on ancillary revenues, since the more passengers we have, of course, the more we drive ancillary streams. So, yeah, there’s a lot to like at the moment.”  

Van der Werff also referred to the rather quick switch from Star Alliance, where it was a founding member, to SkyTeam. The swiftness of this move was praised by SkyTeam CEO Patrick Roux in a previous Executive Spotlight interview published on December 11, 2024. 

“It was a massive change for us after 27 years in Star Alliance,” van der Werff said. “I just have to say that it’s going remarkably well. We had quite some system integration with Star Alliance. We and ended that literally overnight and it went flawlessly.”  

“We had an hour of some boarding group issues at our hubs and that was solved within an hour and a half, which was quite amazing,” he added. “And ever since it’s been going extremely well.” 

Van der Werff stated his satisfaction about how inter-partner traffic flows, the number of tickets that airlines sell on each other’s networks, are already reflecting the new relationship with Air France-KLM.  

“We already see very solid numbers coming out of the Air France-KLM relationship. In fact, these have now surpassed the ones we had with Lufthansa Group. So, that is also telling! And there is still a path forward and this is the opportunity to work closer together with Delta Air Lines, Air France-KLM and Virgin Atlantic,” he said. “We have been very clear and outspoken about us wanting to be part of that joint venture at some point in the future.”  

Here, van der Werff was referring to the joint venture established between these three SkyTeam airlines to manage their transatlantic traffic together.  

As a region, Scandinavia is currently covered by these arrangements, but so far SAS is not part of them. So, the Nordic carrier is effectively competing with its partners in these markets. 

The Dutch executive noted that customers would benefit from SAS also being party to this joint venture. 

“A joint venture is really the next level of a codeshare,” he explained. “A codeshare is just literally that you’re able to sell each other’s flights but with a joint venture, you’re able to coordinate on capacity. So rather than having, for instance, two flights leaving at the same time, we can talk to our competitors and say, ‘Hey, listen, let’s move one of these flights to another time slot’, so with a better spread of the day of your flights, you can increase connectivity on both sides.” 

He continued: “We can offer solutions that are far easier for our customers and do so in a much more unified way. Currently, we cannot do that because we’re competitors.” 

However, the continued growth of the transatlantic market seems far from assured. Does vander Werff think traffic numbers reflect simmering political tensions between the United States and Europe and the potential unravelling of the once close relationship between the two sides of the North Atlantic? 

“We’re starting to see things, not so much for spring and summer. That’s holding up, I think, because a lot of those bookings were already in [place]. For the winter season, we see weakness. That is starting to emerge as a theme,” he said. “It’s definitely impacted [the market], and [it] is not as strong as it was a few weeks and months ago.”  

Despite geopolitical tensions, which not only include the transatlantic rift, but also Russia’s war in Ukraine [for example, on April 30, 2025, SAS quantified  the number of seats lost to the Scandinavian airline market as a consequence of airspace closures to be 1.2 million seats– ed. note] and the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, van der Werff remained upbeat about the opportunities brought about by the SkyTeam membership. 

“We unlock a very unique part of the world. It’s very high up north and some of its destinations are truly remote, but it’s got a population that is eager to travel, with a high GDP per capita, high propensity to travel,” he said. “These are very strong economies. That is what we bring to the table, to both SkyTeam and possibly, in the future, to a joint venture.”  

However, SAS is not the only player in the Scandinavian market. Over the course of the last couple of decades, and despite having faced financial issues of its own, local low-cost airline Norwegian has emerged as a formidable competitor.  

However, van der Werff pointed out some key elements that set the two airlines apart.  

“There are a few very big differences: we’ve got widebodies, we fly to the US, to Asia. We do cargo on widebodies and long-haul. Again, we’re the ones reintroducing business class on European flights and on long-haul we, of course, had it already. I think there’s a different composition.” 

Redefining the SAS product 

One of the key novelties unveiled by SAS in 2025 has been the reintroduction of a proper business class on its European flights.  

Until recently, SAS had a single cabin on short haul flights and offered its customers the possibility of purchasing some extra elements of service as ancillaries. But now the airline offers a new business class in a dedicated section of the cabin.   

SAS’ new Euro business class cabin will still have six seats abreast, but the middle seat will be blocked, and passengers will also be able to enjoy some differentiated service elements, such as better inflight food. For example, in April 2025, the airline unveiled its “SAS Flavours” initiative to revamp its inflight catering offering. 

But van der Werff was also keen to point out that the new business class product was the result of an internal assessment of market conditions rather than, as some analysts suggested in the media, a request from the airline’s new owners.   

“It is actually funny because some people think that we’ve done it just because of SkyTeam and that’s simply not true. We made our own assessment and saw there is a willingness to spend on premium products, and until now, we had not been offering one. So, it’s about segmenting the cabin differently. It’s about adding a product that we didn’t have and it’s a product that our competition has, so we want to make sure that we’re on par.” 

However, van der Werff did not deny the new premium cabins will facilitate the offering of a more consistent experience to passengers connecting with one of the partner airlines. 

“The whole SkyTeam move made it easier because there’s the alignment on products. So, when we connect passengers that may be flying one way with SAS over the North Atlantic and then come back via Air France-KLM or connect with Delta, we want to offer a seamless product. But it had already started well before [the move to] SkyTeam. We wanted to do it ourselves because we really believe that the additional product, the segmentation in the cabin, is beneficial to us.” 

Van der Werff also delved into the role each of the different SAS sub-brands, SAS Connect and SAS Link, fulfill within the company. 

While there is not much difference in terms of passenger experience between SAS and SAS Connect, the regionally focused SAS Link does have some marked particularities, not least of which is that most flights are operated by other airlines under contract. 

Van der Werff said: “It’s very simple. When you look at, for instance, at the wet leases that we have with CityJet and BRA [two airlines that operate regional flights in Scandinavia on behalf of SAS – ed. note] , those all operate smaller aircraft that we would not have in our own fleet, or that we would even want to have in our own fleet.” 

“We have been looking at ways to simplify our fleet,” he added. 

Next, van der Werff commented on fleet strategy and did not mince his words when it came to pointing out the issues SAS is facing, including potential tariffs on engines and aircraft. 

“Our regional product with SAS Link currently uses Embraer E1s and we have always been quite open about the question of whether we should go to a mid-sized solution, which could be either the Embraer E2s or the Airbus A220. The engine issues have definitely held us back from taking an important decision there,” he explained. “I think at this stage we’d also really need to have a very good look at what the tariffs could be on those aircraft because the engines for both of those aircraft are Pratt & Whitney, coming from the United States. What are the tariffs on those engines going to be?” 

“We will not pay the tariffs,” he stated. “Let it be very clear that we will not be the ones absorbing that cost.”  

What does seem clear is that the new Euro business class will not be offered on SAS Link aircraft, at least not for now. 

“We’ve had long discussions on that. On the (mainline) A320s, we block the middle seat so that everybody has a window or an aisle, but this is already the case on SAS Link.,” explained van der Werff. 

“But what about the airline’s long-haul strategy?” 

Next, we touched upon long-haul strategy. 

“We believe that we are under-indexed on long-haul. We do want to do more on long-haul. In the next 18 months, we are covered. We’ve got two A350s coming in right next year. So, that is already, at least until the summer of 2026. Beyond that, I think we would be looking at an additional number of aircraft, either A330s or A350s that we can deploy in 2027, 2028 or 2029. And then, at some point, not yet as a first step, we really would like to take a decision about the future,” van der Werff said. “Are we going to phase out the A330s and go all A350s? There are some options on the table, but that’s really not for today. For now, we’re really focused on building out what we have before the end of the decade, at least.”  

SAS returned 12 aircraft to lessors during its crisis period. Van der Werff confirmed that these are now gone for good, although he is already thinking about the options to reconstitute the fleet over the longer term. 

“I think that was part of the right sizing. We still had some Boeing 737s that were due to leave the fleet in any case. We had old A340s that left the fleet, and we feel very comfortable with where we stand today on that.”   

Van der Werff referred again to the possibility of adding Embraer E2s or Airbus A220s for certain roles, although this seems to be out of the question in the short term. 

“With the number of widebodies that we’re having and with the wet leases we have signed, we don’t need a quick fix. That would really be a medium-term project, not something for the next year or two, then we can really go into something else.” 

But engine issues and tariffs still loom on the horizon. 

“The engine has been a stumbling block for many airlines over the last years, and now there are the tariffs, So, I am only going to repeat what I said earlier: we will not be the one absorbing the cost of the tariffs.”  

One aircraft that has opened up a number of new opportunities for SAS is the A321LR, here’s what van der Werff said about it: 

“We have the A321LRs, and they work really well. We can use them in two different ways. Either on new markets or to build frequency from the hubs. For instance, this year, instead of having one widebody going to Newark (EWR), we’re splitting it with the A321LRs: one goes to Newark, the other to (New York) JFK. I also believe we can add a second US destination from Stockholm (ARN). That’s something that we’re looking at.” 

Angel DiBilio / ShutterstockThe widebodies, van der Werff confirmed, will be based in Copenhagen (CPH), from where the airline plans to launch two destinations: Seattle (SEA) and Seoul (ICN), in May and September 2025, respectively.  

“And there will be more to come. We have, of course, a list for 2026, 2027 and 2028, when those new A350s come in. North America and Asia remain, of course, the ones that we are primarily looking at. But honestly, once you start building out that hub, and once there is more of a feed, we believe, other things in the world will work.” 

On SAS sustainability leadership 

“Scandinavia is truly focused on nature. I’ve lived in six or seven different countries around the world, and here it is different. In the rest of the world, sustainability is more like a project, but here it is really a way of living,” said van der Werff when commenting on the airline’s multiple investments and partnerships in this space.  

These include sustainable aviation fuel Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), as well as hydrogen. SAS is also a partner of Airbus ZEROe program and was one of the early backers of Heart Aerospace, a Swedish startup which recently relocated to California, US, and is developing a hybrid-electric regional airliner. 

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“Heart Aerospace fits in[to the airline’s sustainability initiatives] because we think electrical aviation could be interesting on short sectors, domestic markets, secondary and tertiary cities, like in northern Norway, northern Sweden, even connecting the major cities in Sweden, such as Stockholm and Gothenburg, for instance. We want to be part of that development too,” explained van der Werff. 

He added: “It requires a bit of a change of strategy because many of these routes are now operated by others. BRA has 75 seats, and Heart Aerospace, the first aircraft they intend to make, is a 48-seater. But when Boeing started producing airplanes, they didn’t immediately come up with the 747 or the 777. When Airbus started, they didn’t immediately have the A350, so we want to be there. We want to make sure that we can support them and actually a part of our network could use these aircraft.  

“Would we rather have a 100-seater than a 50-seater? Yes, for sure. Would we rather have a 150-seater that’s fully electric and can fly right to 3,000 kilometers? Yes, for sure. But you’ve got to start somewhere.” 

Heart Aerospace ES-30 in SAS liveryHowever, SAS is placing most of its hopes on scaling up SAF production, particularly synthetically produced e-SAF. 

“It’s definitely more than a declaration of intentions. We are absolutely buying SAF already,” van der Werff said. “In fact, the data for last year [2024] was that Air France-KLM was the airline with the highest percentage of sustainable aviation fuel, and we were second, very close to Air France KLM, but they beat us, and we got in second in the world. So, we are buying it. We’re using it. 

“However, if you look at the ambition levels, and if you also look at regulations, we do need to increase production of sustainable aviation fuel or e-SAF considerably or at least find different technological solutions. And that is why we’re spending time on electrical aviation, and we’re still spending time with Airbus on hydrogen aircraft. I mean, it’s three paths that we’re exploring.”  

Returning to competitiveness 

Being based in Scandinavia, SAS operates in a high-cost environment. This used to be a major issue for SAS when competing with airlines elsewhere with a much lower cost base, such as the budget carriers.  

What is the current cost level at SAS? And is van der Werff satisfied with where this stands after the restructuring? 

“I think you can never be satisfied, right? We’re following the plan, which was to be profitable this year, so we’re following that, and I think we’re even slightly ahead of it,” he said. “But there’s plenty of geopolitical tension and excitement around us. So how will that be reflected in the future? We still have to see.  

“I think it’s going to be a matter of normal day-to-day cost management as an airline. I have been in this industry for 25 years and I don’t think any of us have ever been complacent or happy with whatever cost level we have. I heard someone say yesterday that this industry is a lightning rod for anything bad that happens in the geopolitical world. So, you can never be satisfied. We always have to keep on working at it.”  

However, one thing van der Werff is particularly proud of is SAS’ operational performance. 

“Last year we were in the top 10 in the world, ninth in the world in terms of punctuality. And this year, in March [2025], we were second in the world, only beaten by Saudia, who will never be faced with any snow or hail.” 

To illustrate the challenging climate conditions in which SAS often must operate, Van der Werff pointed out that on the day the interview took place, in late April 2025, one airport was still closed in Norway due to bad weather. 

“It’s been really astonishing to see how well the teams have done that,” he said. “Really. Hats off to them.”  

In April 2025, just days after this interview took place, aviation data company Cirium published a report that placed SAS at the top of that month’s global airline punctuality rankings.  

So, what plans are in the pipeline to ensure SAS can continue building on its current successes? 

Van der Werff said: “We’ve always said that SAS Forward was a project for 2027. So, there is more to be done, and we really want to make sure that we fully get there. There are a lot of things going on for us. I hope that the world will behave as it did until a few months ago, and that we can go back to some form of normality. That would really be very useful.”  

The Dutch executive continued to outline his most urgent priorities at the head of SAS. 

“This year is all about continuing to build our relationships with the SkyTeam airlines. There are still a number of codeshare agreements in the pipeline that still have to come online. Then, there is the deepening of relationships with Air France, KLM, Virgin Atlantic, Delta,” he said. “I really would like to be part of European consolidation as well. It’s not a decision we can take, but I hope it’s a decision that Air France-KLM, Castlelake and the Danish state will take. I think there’s a logical outcome there.” 

“We also have the business class introduction at the end of the year,” he said, adding that the carrier expects to welcome additional aircraft to the fleet, meaning greater growth and hopefully new, exciting destinations. 

Van der Werff also took the opportunity to mention the future 3,700 square meter flagship lounge SAS plans to open in Copenhagen in 2027. 

“So, there’s lots to like and, at same time, the SAS forward project is still running,” he said. “And we have our own decisions to make, so we’ll make sure that the organization is efficient and that we drive the necessary changes. And there’s more to come.” 

Finally, what has Van der Werff’s tenure meant personally? How does it feel to steer such a prominent Nordic brand into a new strategic environment? 

“It’s probably still too soon to speak about it, really,” he said. “It’s not fully digested yet because I’m so into it. So, you will probably have to ask me in a number of years.” 

“What I have said all along, and I really mean it, is that I think the SAS brand and its role in society, it’s so beautiful. I honestly feel privileged to have been in this position,” he said. “It’s been extremely hard work. It has been, and still is, very challenging, but when I look at it, at this beautiful company…it’ been a fantastic ride.” 

“And when I look again, I’ve said it to you earlier in the interview, but living here, amidst such stunning nature. It is so beautiful,” he added. “You feel so humble in that nature. You feel so inspired by it.” The post SAS’ CEO Anko van der Werff on realigning one of Europe’s most iconic airlines appeared first on AeroTime.

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