 At the time , Denmark was a member of the European Union ( EU ) , while Sweden and Norway had applied and were awaiting referenda to determine membership . EU was working to <unk> the airline market from 1995 , which could cause problems for the Scandinavian agreements . In preparation for this , Braathens SAFE started negotiations with Linjeflyg of Sweden and <unk> Air of Denmark to <unk> an alliance to compete with SAS . In particular , the three airlines wanted to capture the two million passengers that travelled between the three Scandinavian capitals : Oslo , Copenhagen and Stockholm . Instead , SAS was given permission to purchase Linjeflyg in exchange for the Swedish airline market being <unk> from 1 July 1992 . From 23 October 1992 , the Norwegian Armed Forces stopped <unk> aircraft and started using scheduled flights to fly 240 @,@ 000 personnel annually . Since most of the transport was between Northern and Southern Norway , this gave reduced revenue for Braathens SAFE . 
