Breaking into the airline market

As early as 1987 Sven Hampus Salén takes a major step into the air industry with the purchase of a small airline in Gothenburg, that is renamed Salair. Operations have a slow start in the recession of 1990-1992, in hard competition with SAS and after merging with Avia in 1992 the domestic airline Skyways is formed. With smaller planes and fewer employees it succeeds in making profits where SAS failed. In 1995 Skyways is the largest domestic air carrier in Sweden, in terms of number of destinations. In 1997 a collaborative agreement is signed with SAS and in 1998 SAS purchase 25 per cent of Skyways. Expansion continues up until 2001, that proves to be a difficult year for the whole of the airline industry.