While details of the deal remain confidential, the deal will award SAS more than one billion kronor ($164 million) in cash and credits for future aircraft orders. As part of the agreement, SAS’s board has agreed to purchase 27 aircraft from Bombadier, with an option for up to 24 additional planes.
“We are very satisfied with the settlement with Bombardier,” SAS President and CEO Mats Jansson said in a statement.
The new aircraft will include the CRJ900 NextGen and the Q400 NextGen turboprop, which will replace the earlier operated Q400-fleet which SAS permanently grounded last fall.
The decision was made following an accident in October at Copenhagen Kastrup Airport in which a plane’s landing gear gave way. It was the last in a string of incidents that had occurred over several weeks.
The grounding of SAS’s entire Dash fleet cost the airline 700 million kronor.