Traffic at SAS AB increased by +1.4% in January compared to the same month last year.
The SAS Group transported a total of 2.1 million passengers in January 2004 compared to 2.2 million in 2003, a decrease of -3.7%.
Overall the group passenger load factor increased by 0.7 percentage units to 56.1% for January 2004 compared to 2003. Market trends and yield development for January group traffic volumes developed well with a traffic growth of +1.4% and improved passenger load factor.
The group stated indications for yields in January show significant additional pressure compared with previous months.
In general, growth has improved on European and intercontinental routes and a positive passenger mix was noted on Asian routes in January, the company said. Domestic and intrascandinavian markets are still characterised by weak demand and increased competition and this is the main reason for the modest overall group traffic growth.
Braathens traffic increased in January driven by the positive development on international routes. Spanair’s traffic decreased in January with an almost flat load factor.
Yields in December were down -15.4% month by month and -12.5% for the period Jan-Dec.
Yield development in December was slightly weaker than expected. Price cuts of up to 30% were implemented in Scandinavia from October 2003 pushing yields in November by approximately -2%to -3% compared to 2002.
Scandinavian Airlines traffic (RPK) increased by +0.1% in January 2004 compared with 2003. Scandinavian Airlines passenger load factor increased by 1.3 percentage units to 59.5%. In line with most long haul operators, demand on the long haul routes improved during January. Intercontinental load factors improved by 6.8 percentage units.
Traffic on the European routes was up +4.3%. Snowflake has its low season now and showed a load factor of just above 50%.
Intrascandinavian traffic was characterised by slow demand.
