 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.
