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SAS 747 Seat Maps

SAS fitted its 'Viking' 747-200Bs with just 353 seats and a first-class lounge on the upper deck, while the Combis flew freight-centred transatlantic routes with 209–281 seats.

By , Boeing 747 EnthusiastReviewed

SAS ordered its 747-200Bs as much for image as for capacity. The first two, christened ‘Huge Viking’ and ‘Ivar Viking’, began Copenhagen–New York service in 1971 — and with only 353 seats, the densest Scandinavian jumbo still felt half empty.

Comfort over capacity

SAS deliberately left seats out:

  • 353 seats across first and economy, with generous pitch for the era.
  • An upper-deck first-class lounge — a cocktail-and-conversation space rather than revenue seating, up the spiral staircase.
  • The ‘Viking’ nickname and the fleet’s clever economics: the first two were bought partly so SAS could keep its image as a first-rank long-haul carrier.

The Combis

From 1977 the same routes were increasingly flown by three 747-283B/SCD Combis with 209–281 seats, making money on up to eight pallets of transatlantic freight. Third ‘Huge Viking’ airframes rounded out the fleet in 1981 — one of them, fittingly, the 500th 747 built.

By 1987–1988 the jumbos were gone from the SAS fleet, sold or leased to carriers that could fill them.

Cabin archive

Visual seat maps

Cabin zones run from the nose on the left to the tail on the right. Seat symbols show the typical abreast pattern, not every individual row.

Archived configuration1971–1987

747-200B passenger layout

SAS fitted its passenger 747-200Bs with just 353 seats — a deliberately spacious cabin with a first-class lounge on the upper deck instead of revenue seating.

353passenger seats
Upper deckLounge, not revenue seats
First-class loungeCocktails and socialising
Main deck
First and Economy
Economy Class

Map note: Traffic from Scandinavia could not fill a full jumbo, so SAS traded capacity for comfort. The upper deck became a first-class lounge rather than a cabin; the published figures give the 353-seat total but no class-by-class breakdown.

Configuration source: Ultra Swank — Scandinavian Airlines 747, and Wikipedia aircraft list

Historical reconstruction1977–1988

747-200B Combi layout

The SAS Combis flew a freight-centred Copenhagen–Gothenburg–Bergen–New York route with 209–281 passenger seats and substantial main-deck cargo.

245passenger seats
Main deckPassenger cabin forward, freight aft
First and Economy
Economy Class
Main-deck freightUp to eight pallets aft

Map note: The three 747-283B/SCD Combis carried between 209 and 281 passengers depending on freight load; the rear main deck held up to eight freight pallets.

Configuration source: Wikipedia — List of aircraft operated by Scandinavian Airlines

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the primary and institutional references below.

  1. Scandinavian Airlines Boeing 747 — The Viking of the 1970s — Ultra Swank
  2. List of aircraft operated by Scandinavian Airlines — Wikipedia

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