SAS Group President and CEO Jorgen Lindegaard, who kept the airline aloft through the most challenging period in its history, announced yesterday that he will resign this fall, saying in a statement, "I feel that the time is right for a new CEO to take over."

Lindegaard was a newcomer to the airline industry when he succeeded Jan Stenberg as CEO in May 2001, and had he known what was in store he very well might have chosen a different path. His first challenge was the Maersk price-fixing scandal, which occurred prior to his arrival but broke on his watch. This was followed by 9/11 and then the October 2001 fatal ground collision at Milan between an SAS MD-80 and a business jet that wandered into its path in heavy fog.

It fell to Lindegaard to embark upon a series of cost-cutting programs and layoffs in response to the large decline in business travel and rising challenge of low-fare airlines. His efforts paid off last year as the group returned a small annual profit after four years of red ink. It posted a loss in the seasonally difficult first quarter of 2006 (ATWOnline, May 5), but he said the flagship Scandinavian Airlines Businesses unit showed improvement.

Among his major achievements were the acquisition of long-time Norwegian rival Braathens in December 2001, reorganization of SAS Group into five business areas, the spinoff or sale of noncore businesses and the devolution of Scandinavian Airlines into largely standalone units: SAS Denmark, SAS Norway, SAS Sweden, SAS International and SAS Cargo.

Although he did not initiate it, Lindegaard maintained the strategy of investing in other airlines, boosting SAS's stake in Spanair to nearly 100%, taking over Wideroe and acquiring a 49% stake in Estonian and 47.2% of airBaltic.

In a statement, SAS Board Chairman Egil Mykleburst acknowledged the heavy challenge Lindegaard faced: "It is no exaggeration to say that he has had one of the most difficult CEO positions in Scandinavia." He credited him with laying "a stable foundation for the transformation which we need to proceed." SAS said it will begin a search for a successor