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SAS Celebrates 20 Years Anniversary in Lithuania

20 years ago Scandinavian Airlines SAS were the first Western Airline company to start its regular operations in Lithuania after the country regained its independence. The first SAS plane from Copenhagen landed at Vilnius airport on January 27, 1992.

Back in 1992 SAS started its regular operations in Lithuania with the 5 weekly flights on the route Copenhagen – Vilnius. Later the number of flights had been progressively increased. In 2004 airline company started its operations on the route Copenhagen – Palanga. In Palanga SAS also became the first international aviation company to start its operation at this airport. On January 11, 2010 SAS re-opened the route Vilnius – Copenhagen and on October 31, 2011 SAS opened a new route Palanga – Oslo.

Now SAS is operating 19 weekly flights between Vilnius and Copenhagen, 13 weekly flights between Palanga and Copenhagen and 2 weekly flights between Palanga and Oslo; 34 weekly flights in total.

“Lithuanian market had always been important for Scandinavian Airlines SAS, our company had always been developing its operations here in line with the customer demands and our competitive business advantages. As I‘m working with the company since its first days in Lithuania, I can firmly state that during these 20 years SAS contributed significantly to the development of business relationship between Lithuania and Scandinavian countries just as well as to the development of travel industry“, said Ruta Juciene, SAS Representative Manager Lithuania.

According to Ms. Juciene, during all those years Scandinavian Airlines SAS fostered the same values: attention to the customer, especially in the area of punctuality, issues of ecology, development of the latest technological solutions and seeking for the leadership position in all these areas.

During the last 20 years SAS brought to Lithuania quite a few members of Scandinavian Royal families, numerous politicians, diplomats. Business people from Scandinavian countries as well as from Lithuania also favour these airlines. In addition, since this year SAS will pay more attention to the leisure travelling by the way of offering more holiday destinations. From those, the most relevant destinations for the Lithuanian travellers since March onwards will be the direct flights from Copenhagen to Malaga, Split, Katowice, Dubrovnik as well as to Shanghai, also direct flights from Oslo to Antalya and Faro.

SAS is Europe's most punctual airline for third year in a row

Scandinavian Airlines has officially been named Europe’s most punctual airline, for the third year in a row, by the independent source Flightstats. SAS was also the world’s third most punctual airline after Japanese airlines ANA and JAL. For 2011, 88.22% of all SAS flights arrived on time.

“We are very pleased to once again be named Europe’s most punctual airline and remain Europe’s most reliable airline for the third year in a row. All our employees do their utmost every day to ensure that every flight meet our customers’ expectations and offer them the most value for time and money. To also be the world’s third most punctual major airline really confirms that we are a world-class airline,” says Ruta Juciene, Scandinavian Airlines Representative Manager Lithuania.

Out of SAS’ 239,320 flights in 2011, 208,972 arrived on time. The arrival statistics for 2011 is also an improvement of 2010’s punctuality of 86.47%. In 2009, SAS’ punctuality record was 89.83% and in 2008 it was 83.92%

All data is provided by the independent source Flightstats. Flightstats track the performance of over 150,000 flights per day, archive the data for analysis and publication, and provide real time flight status to millions of travelers worldwide each day.

ISM University of Management and Economics to boost study possibilities for disabled people

As a way of encouraging the integration of disabled people into institutions of higher education, the Lithuanian Forum for the Disabled and ISM University of Management and Economics have started implementing a joint initiative to boost the study possibilities for disabled people.

Based upon data provided by the Lithuanian National Union of Students, there were 1,026 students with special needs studying in Lithuanian institutions of higher education in 2010. Although this number is increasing each year, it could grow faster, Ginta Žemaitaitytė, vice-president of the Lithuanian Union of Persons with Disabilities, noted. “Research carried out by the Ministry of Education and Science has demonstrated that the number of young people with disabilities attending institutions of higher education is 15 times less than the number of such students at general education schools. Since people with disabilities have better opportunities to pursue higher education in foreign countries, Lithuanian students with disabilities often choose institutions of higher education there rather than in our country. It is essential for Lithuanian universities to improve the education conditions for disabled people, from the physical environment of studies to changes in the study process itself”, Ms Žemaitaitytė points out.

The initiative of the Lithuanian Forum for the Disabled and ISM will help the University to become more attractive to students with disabilities not just with specially adjusted physical environments, as has been so far, but also by the delivery of information, process of studies, teaching material, and assistance provided by teachers and administrative staff.

There will be a special training course arranged for the academic and administrative staff of the University and its Students’ Representation in February. The training course will include an analysis of attitudes towards people with disabilities, basic principles of communication with disabled people, and better ways for their integration into the life of the University.

“Currently, there are two students with mobility disabilities studying at ISM and a further 100 students are taking part in a special remote studies project. It is difficult to say whether we have students with other disabilities, for instance, with hearing disability, because people try to hide less obvious disabilities. Our aim is to develop the capabilities of our academic community to be able to recognise, accept, and properly behave with people who have various disabilities and to encourage such students not to conceal their special needs, so that quality of their studies is as high as possible”, Prof Viltė Auruškevičienė, dean of ISM Studies, says. The dean believes that the more active involvement of students with disabilities in University life will change the attitude of the academic community and its business partners and will contribute to the development of greater tolerance.

According to the vice-president of Lithuanian Union of Persons with Disabilities, studies facilitate the integration of students with disabilities into society and provide better conditions for participating in various activities, achieving a higher social position, and developing public activity. It is not uncommon that when people with disabilities have successfully finished their studies, they no longer can imagine their lives without a job.

She points out that there is currently a lack of information regarding study opportunities for disabled people in Lithuania. Also, no general system has been created for the registration of disabled people in institutions of higher education, and teaching material is not adapted to students with special needs.

Cooperation between the Lithuanian Forum for the Disabled and ISM is being carried out according to the following United Nations Development Programme project: “Gateway: Social and Environmental Business Innovations”. The project is being financed by the European Social Fund and the state budget.

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