Editing Scandinavian Airlines (section)

=== Consolidation, acquisitions, and partnerships===
In 1981, [[Jan Carlzon]] was appointed as the [[CEO]] of SAS; during his tenure, the company underwent a successful financial turnaround of the company starting in 1981 and who envisioned SAS ownership of multiple airlines worldwide. SAS gradually acquired control of the domestic markets in all three countries; this was achieved by acquiring full or partial control of various competing local airlines, including [[Braathens ASA|Braathens]] and [[Widerøe]] in Norway; [[Linjeflyg]] and [[Skyways Express]] in Sweden; and [[Cimber Air]] in Denmark. During 1989, SAS acquired 18.4% of the [[Texas Air Corporation]], the parent company of [[Continental Airlines]], in a bid to form a global alliance. However, this did not come about and the stake in the Texas Air Corporation was subsequently sold on. During the 1990s, SAS also acquired a 20 percent stake in [[British Midland]], as well as purchasing 95 percent of [[Spanair]], the second-largest airline in Spain, in addition to [[Air Greenland]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}

During the early 1990s, SAS unsuccessfully tried to merge itself with [[KLM]], along with [[Austrian Airlines]] and Swissair, in a proposed combined entity commonly called [[Alcazar (airline)|Alcazar]].<ref name=fail>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-11-22-fi-59778-story.html |title=4 European Air Carriers Scrap Plan for Merger: Transportation: The airlines had hoped to form a 'fortress' to compete with lower-cost flights |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |agency=Times Wire Services |date=22 November 1993}}</ref><ref name=swissair>{{cite journal |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb4779/is_17/ai_n29091766/ |title=A tale of strategic and governance errors: the failings which caused the demise of Swissair were aggravated by the convergence of several industry developments |journal=European Business Forum |last=Ruigrok |first=Winfried |year=2004 |issue=Spring}}</ref> However, months of negotiations towards this ambitious merger ultimately collapsed due to multiple unsettled issues; this strategic failure heavily contributed to the departure of Carlzon that same year and his replacement by Jan Reinås.<ref name = "official pres"/> The airline marked its 50th year of operation on 1 August 1996 with the harmonization and name of SAS's parent company to ''SAS Danmark A/S, SAS Norge ASA'' and ''SAS Sverige AB''.<ref name = "official milestones"/> During May 1997, SAS became a founding member of the global [[Star Alliance]] network, joining with airlines such as [[Air Canada]], [[Lufthansa]], [[Thai Airways International]], and [[United Airlines]].<ref name="A new alliance">{{Cite news |last=Bryant |first=Adam |title=United and 4 Others to Detail Air Alliance Today |work=The New York Times |date=14 May 1997 |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F0071FFC345D0C778DDDAC0894DF494D81 |access-date=16 October 2010}}</ref><ref name="5 Airlines">{{Cite news |last=Tagliabue |first=John |title=5 Airlines Extend Limits of Alliances |work=The New York Times |date=15 May 1997 |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0A15FA3C5C0C768DDDAC0894DF494D81 |access-date=16 October 2010}}</ref>

In June 2001, the ownership structure of SAS was changed, with a holding company being created in which the holdings of the governments changed to Sweden (21.4%), Norway (14.3%), and Denmark (14.3%), while the remaining 50 percent of shares were publicly held and traded on the [[stock market]].<ref name = "official milestones"/> During 2004, SAS was again restructured, being divided into four separate companies: ''SAS Scandinavian Airlines Sverige AB, SAS Scandinavian Airlines Danmark A/S, SAS Braathens AS,'' and ''SAS Scandinavian International AS''. ''SAS Braathens'' was re-branded ''SAS Scandinavian Airlines Norge AS'' in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://se.yhp.waymaker.net/sasgroup/release.asp?id=147353 |title=Press Release: SAS Braathens to be renamed SAS Norge |publisher=Waymaker (via SAS Group Press Release Archive) |access-date=23 March 2010}}</ref><ref name = "official milestones"/> However, during October 2009, the four companies were once again united into one company, named ''SAS Scandinavian System AB''.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}