SAS flights were delayed yesterday (Thursday) after a computer glitch affected its check-in system. Although swiftly resolved, the problem affected all the Scandinavian carrier’s services.
Initial reports had suggested the issue had only had an impact on flights in Norway. An airline spokesman told news agency Reuters: “There was a problem with the check-in system, and we could not check in the passengers.
“The system was down for about an hour and a half, which has led to delays. This was on all SAS flights, not only in Norway. Everything is up and running now, and we are investigating what happened.”
The timing of the problem was unfortunate for SAS which had just claimed the title as Europe’s most punctual airline with an on-time performance service award from research firm FlightStats.
SAS was also nominated as one of the world’s most punctual airlines and was the only carrier outside the Asia/Pacific region included in the global category. Among regional European airlines, the SAS Group’s Norwegian subsidiary Widerøe was one of the finalists.
Japan Airlines won the award in the major international airlines category with Alsaka Airlines taking the North America punctuality prize. FlightStats tracks the performance of almost 150,000 flights operated by thousands of airlines and airports each day.
The awards recognise airlines that deliver the highest percentage of flights to their arrival gates within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time. SAS acting chief executive John Dueholm said: “All our staff, from the check-in and gate to the baggage handlers, work exceptionally hard every day to provide our customers with that unique service that characterizes SAS.
“With our innovative check-in solutions, being amongst the first airlines to introduce Fast Track security and being one of the world’s most punctual airlines, no competitor can come close to SAS in offering time-efficient air travelling.”