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.
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