 In 1997 , SAS announced that it was going to reduce its commission to travel agents from 9 to 5 % . Braathens followed , reducing from 8 to 5 % from 1 January 1998 . However , to try to attract more business passengers , the airline retained the 8 % commission on their international routes . At the same time , the Government of Norway abandoned its old regime of negotiating prices with the airlines for state @-@ employed civil servants ' flights . Instead , they introduced an annual tender for the routes . It was awarded to SAS , who also won all subsequent tenders . For Braathens SAFE , this meant that state @-@ employed civil servants only flew on routes where SAS did not fly . The contract was worth NOK 500 million for SAS . 
