Air France-KLM will initiate the process of raising its minority stake in Scandinavian airline SAS AB to 60.5%, as it looks to extend consolidation in the European aviation industry and better compete with rivals Deutsche Lufthansa AG and British Airways owner IAG SA.

No longer the Lufthansa Group, with Eurowings, Swiss, Austrian, Air Brussels, ITA being the only dominant airline group in Europe, Dutch-based KLM and Air France are aggressively laying the European trend of airline consolidation by acquiring a majority ownership in Scandinavian Airlines SAS.

Air France–KLM will initiate proceedings to take a majority stake in SAS, marking a strategically important chapter for the Scandinavian carrier.