SAS Celebrates 40 Years of Service to Seattle.

LYNDHURST, N.J. -- Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) this month celebrates 40 years of service between Seattle and Copenhagen.

SAS was the first European airline to operate scheduled passenger service to Seattle. The first SAS flight landed on September 2, 1966 with a then state-of-the-art McDonnell Douglas DC-8, the four-engine aircraft that SAS used on its intercontinental flights in the 1960s. The DC-8 carried 142 passengers, plus nine cockpit and cabin crew.

This was not the first flight SAS had operated to Seattle, however. In 1962, SAS had transported a cannon from the 17th Century man o' war "Vasa" to Seattle for the opening ceremony of the Seattle World Exposition. There, in front of 70,000 spectators, the cannon fired a salute - its first shot since 1628!

Approval for SAS service to Seattle, and reciprocal rights for U.S. airlines to serve Copenhagen, had come in March 1966 with an aviation treaty signed by the U.S. and Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The pact had been strongly supported by the powerful Washington Democratic Senators Warren G. Magnuson and Henry "Scoop" Jackson.

The first SAS passenger flight landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after traveling 4,854 miles in 9.5 hours. Passengers included SAS senior staff, government officials from Denmark, Norway and Sweden and journalists.

The aircraft returned to Copenhagen on September 3 with many dignitaries, including Senator and Mrs. Magnuson, Washington Governor Daniel Evans, Seattle Mayor J.D. Braman and Tacoma Mayor Harold Tollefson.

Palle Christensen, Seattle-based General Manager Central and Western USA for SAS, said: "Since those first flights, SAS has continuously operated non-stop service between Seattle and Copenhagen, and over the past 40 years we have transported more than five million passengers on these flights."

He continued, "Today SAS flies non-stop daily between Seattle and Copenhagen with Airbus A340-300 aircraft seating 261 passengers. Seattle is and has long been one of the most important SAS destinations, and will remain so in the future. After 40 years here we feel quite at home, and like most Seattleites we have no desire to leave."

This month SAS also marks the 60th anniversary of its founding by the governments of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The first SAS flight was on September 17, 1946 from Stockholm to New York on a twin-engine Douglas DC-4, the "Dan Viking," with a stylized Viking dragon prow on its gleaming silver fuselage. That flight took 25 hours, with stops at Copenhagen, Prestwick in Scotland and Gander on Newfoundland, Canada before landing at LaGuardia Field in New York City with its 28 passengers.