Today’s announcement regarding the intention of the Swedish Government to support the conversion of its debt holdings into SAS equity is an important step toward the success of the transformation plan, SAS FORWARD.
The full implementation of SAS FORWARD, including the burden sharing components, will allow SAS to become a competitive player in the European airline industry, thereby attracting the necessary new equity capital to restore its liquidity, deleverage its balance sheet and invest in a new fleet of aircraft.
The Swedish Government has also announced they will not inject additional new capital. SAS wants to express its appreciation of the support that has been given from the Swedish State over the years. During the pandemic, the state support provided was an absolute necessity for the company’s survival.
Since 1946, SAS has been an important part of the Scandinavian infrastructure, connecting Sweden and Scandinavia to the world and the world to Scandinavia. This continues to be SAS’ mission for generations to come.