Customer focused service development in practice – A case study at Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS)

The airline industry will be going through dramatic changes in the years to come. This is due foremost to altered customer demands and expectations but also to deregulation of the airline business. Many airline companies have lost track of the true needs of their passengers and are trapped in outdated views of what airline services are all about. The paper illustrates how Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) has carried out thorough investigations into the concerns of the customers throughout the entire travel experience. Based on the results, SAS has developed new services and redesigned old services. One of the key issues in the paper is the way SAS has chosen to develop the new services, namely to allow the passengers to define the process as opposed to defining it from the company perspective.