SAS has reported that it has secured savings of $200 million through to 2026 from a new collective bargaining deal reached with most of its pilots following the two-week strike in July.
The new collective labour agreements are described as an essential component of the SAS FORWARD plan – the major restructuring of the airline announced in February 2022.
Court documents filed in New York as part of the airline’s Chapter 11 proceedings, further indicate that the airline is requesting the return of 10 more aircraft to lessors to reduce its overall expenditure. The aircraft concerning include three A320neos leased from SMBC Aviation Capital, one A321-200 from Itochu), three A330-300s from Bocomm Leasing, two A350-900s from Fuyo General Lease, and one 737-700 from 18-Pack Irish DAC.
In August 2022, 1.9 million passengers travelled with SAS, an increase of approximately 70% compared to the same month last year. SAS’ capacity increased by approximately 64% compared with the same period last year. In comparison with July 2022, the total number of passengers increased with 40% and capacity was increased by 38%, as operations picked-up again following the 15-day pilot strike. The flown load factor for August was 79%, an improvement of 18 percentage points compared to August last year.
“We are pleased to see operations picking up again in August, where we again had almost two million customers travelling with us. The total number of passengers was negatively affected by the pilot-strike as it led to lower sales during that period. We continue executing our restructuring plan, SAS FORWARD that will lead to SAS being a financially stable airline, providing the service our customers are expecting,” says Anko van der Werff, President & CEO of SAS.