SAS: Expected earnings before tax better than previously communicated on the back of strong passenger figures

SAS’ outlook in the third quarter report was “that it will be challenging to reach a positive result before tax and items affecting comparability in fiscal year 2019”. As a result of strong passenger figures and an improved unit revenue, the outlook is revised as SAS’ earnings before tax and items affecting comparability is estimated to be in the range of SEK 700-800 million for the fiscal year 2019.

– Despite a challenging year we are pleased with a strong performance across our operations during the last months of fiscal year 2019. We are encouraged by an improved supply/demand balance in Scandinavia and that our product offering combined with our determined efforts toward more sustainable air travel continues to attract more customers to fly with us, says Rickard Gustafson, CEO of SAS.

SAS’ total traffic capacity increased with 2.2% and the number of passengers increased with 3.6% compared to October 2018. Regularity and punctuality also showed a strong improvement with an increase of 0.8 percentage points and 1.5 percentage points respectively.

Domestic revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) increased by 5.7% across the three Scandinavian countries. The growth was also substantial on European/Intrascandinavian routes where RPK increased with 5.5%. Total passenger load factor increased with 0.7 percentage points to 76.3% and supported an improved currency adjusted unit revenue and yield, which increased with 2.3% and 1.6% respectively.