SAS plans new chain

Scandinavian Airlines System is to introduce a new midmarket chain of hotels to run alongside upmarket sister company Radisson SAS.

The development aims to tap into the leisure sector, with three-star properties located mostly in cities out of which SAS operates flights.

SAS president and chief executive officer Jorgen Lindegaard said that the new company would operate on the same principle as Radisson SAS. "It will be a management company with no equity injected from the airline in individual properties," he said.

He added: "Radisson SAS fits very well with SAS's strategy of offering business hotels in key business destinations we serve. Similarly, there is a strong leisure market, but the number of three-star hotels is under-represented."

Lindegaard said that SAS was in discussion with a number of hotel chains to switch selected properties, or perhaps all of them, to the yet-unnamed brand.

He said: "We see no reason why, first, we should get out of the hotel business like other carriers, and second, why we can't expand our hotel interests."

He added that the first property was expected to come online by the end of the year.

Radisson SAS operates 147 hotels in cities and airports worldwide.

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 27 June - 3 July 2002