SAS Group profits hit by rising fuel costs – 04/11/04

SWEDEN. Hit by rising fuel costs, the SAS Group has reported a year-on-year decrease of -1.8% in operating revenue for January to September.

It has also prompted the company to forecast losses for the overall year.

CEO and President Jorgen Lindegaard said: “The situation in the airline industry remains characterized by overcapacity and intense competition which has resulted in substantially reduced yield.

“Despite in many cases unrealistically low average fares, new players have emerged, while some have disappeared.”

While traffic showed improvements in the second quarter, the increase slowed during August and September. For the year to September, traffic has grown +9.1%, but for the third quarter, the rise was only +5.8%.

In addition, jet fuel prices were “a full +90% above the price one year ago” by the end of October.

“We have experienced a quarter that has not been easy in any way,” said Lindegaard.

MORE STORIES ON SAS GROUP


Long-haul routes prop up SAS Group’s passenger traffic – 06/08/04

SAS posts +7.7% traffic increase for April – 10/05/04

SAS posts strong March passenger traffic growth – 14 April 2004

SAS Trading equipped for a challenging 2004 – 24 March 2004

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