SAS has reported a “continued positive trend for passenger demand through the third quarter” with total passengers numbers up by 36.8%, compared to the same period last year which was impacted by a pilot
strike. Year-on-year, SAS’ RPK increased 42.5%, while capacity increased 35.9%. The Scandinavian airline’s load factor of 81.5% was up 3.7 percentage points on the same period last year.
SAS has also reported a54% increase in total operating revenue year-on-year, landing at SEK 13,173 million for the quarter. Earnings before tax (EBT) ended were SEK 457 million, representing an improvement of SEK 2,448 million, compared to same period last year. SAS states that the improved EBT “reflects both stronger operational performance and a financial effect related to currency revaluations of lease liabilities”.
Total operating expenses for the quarter ended at SEK 11,596 million as the airline continued to cut cost across the business.
“Almost 7 million passengers travelled with SAS during the third quarter, the highest quarterly passenger figure since before the pandemic,” said Anko van der Werff, SAS president and CEO. “For the first time since 2019, we also posted a quarterly profit. This is an important milestone. We still have a lot of work ahead of us with our transformation to secure long-term competitiveness, but I consider this a clear sign that we are on the right track and that our efforts are paying off.”
SAS is continuing to add capacity that will increase throughout the winter period, noting that tickets sales were strong throughout the third quarter, “indicating a healthy underlying demand for travel despite a more uncertain economic outlook in society as a whole”.
The airline is continuing to work through its Chapter 11 process in the US and in reaching its overall targets in the SAS FORWARD plan. During the quarter, SAS started a competitive and broad equity solicitation process to secure capital to facilitate its emergence from the Chapter 11 process. “There has been substantial interest from potential investors to participate in the process, where potential investors can place bids to take a lead position or be paired with other investors in acquiring equity interests of the reorganized company,” said van der Werff.
SAS currently aims to complete court approval of its court-supervised process in the US around year-end, to be followed by any regulatory approvals and procedures required in 2024. SAS warned that it “currently expects that there will be only modest recovery for general unsecured creditors and little or no recovery for subordinated unsecured creditors upon emergence from the Chapter 11 process, and that there will be no or very little value for existing shareholders in SAS AB at the end of the company’s restructuring proceedings”.