SAS loses SEK 3 billion in second quarter – E24

The airline's results deteriorated sharply between February and April this year. The number of passengers flying with SAS increased in the first half of the year.

On Thursday morning, SAS reported the company's second quarter.

SAS has different financial years from November 1 to October 31.

The airline's second quarter covers the period from February 2024 to April 2024.

Figures show a pre-tax result of minus 3.07 billion Swedish kroner for the period, the company lost 1.4 billion from the same period a year earlier.

– SAS CEO Anko van der Werff tells E24 by phone that it is very challenging to run a business with a weak Krone for a long time.

SAS has most of its costs in dollars, including fuel and air fares.

The top manager says there was a change after Easter. Revenue per passenger flown (yield) per kilometer has been weak since April, he says.

– It's not a big change. Blocks exist and people still travel, but at different price points.

He would not comment on a possible Norwegian strike this summer.

– Are you glad there won't be a SAS strike for a while?

– We are definitely satisfied with long-term contracts that bring stability.

More passengers

Operating income in the quarter was SEK 10 billion, compared to SEK 8.9 billion in the previous year.

The Swedish and Norwegian krone are currently worth roughly the same.

– SAS is now closing another busy quarter with increasing passenger numbers, strong ticket sales and new milestones in the restructuring process, says Anko van der Werf, managing director of SAS in the quarterly report.

– In the second quarter, I am satisfied that there was a significant improvement in more regular and timely production, he says in the report.

Exchange rate trends during the period had a negative effect on income of SEK 23 million, the report said. On the other hand, expenses increased by SEK 117 million, as a result.

In May, SAS signed a new three-year contract with Apollo worth SEK 4.5 billion, which covers the period from summer 2025 to summer 2027 and SAS is the main partner for Apollo's charter flights from Scandinavia.

In the first half of the year, 10.6 million passengers traveled with SAS, which is 7.3 percent more than the same period last year.

They have lost money over the years

In recent years, the airline, which is involved in a US legal process known as “Chapter 11” from the summer of 2022, has made some gains.

In the first quarter – November, December and January for SAS – the company lost more than SEK 1 billion.

Winter is typically a time when airlines lose money, with less activity and fewer passengers.

In the same period of the previous year, the loss was 2.45 billion Swedish kroner.

In the period from August to October last year, the company lost around NOK two billion. In fiscal year 2023, the company incurred huge losses.

Undertaking extensive restructuring

The “Chapter 11” process involves the company cleaning up its debts.

In this regard, SAS reported a loss of SEK 196 million in December last year. On the same occasion, SAS posted a profit of SEK 42 million in the previous month.

The company's rescue plan was approved by a US court on March 19 this year. A week later, the company announced that Swedish owner SAS AB had filed for bankruptcy protection at the Stockholm District Court, which the company had previously announced.

SAS previously said it expects to complete the restructuring process by the end of the first half of 2024.

The company has now said it plans to complete the process “as soon as possible” in Sweden and the US. SAS is now working toward that happening in the summer of 2024, “but this timetable is subject to change,” the company wrote in a quarterly report.

The rescue plan meant that SAS was delisted from the stock market. The company has new owners, who will pay 13 billion Swedish kroner to secure SAS's financing for the future. As part of the deal with the new owners, SAS has divested from Star Alliance in favor of slightly smaller rival Sky.