SAS Cargo admits violation of U.S competition laws

SAS Cargo admits violation of U.S competition laws

As earlier communicated in the annual and interim reports of SAS Group, the
European Commission and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) are
conducting investigations of a number of parties in the air cargo industry,
including the cargo business of SAS.

SAS Cargo Group A/S, the cargo subsidiary of SAS Group, has reached a resolution
with the DOJ in the ongoing investigation of anti-competitive activity in the
air cargo business. SAS Cargo will enter a guilty plea, and under the terms of a
plea agreement with DOJ, it will pay a fine of 52 MUSD. The guilty plea and fine
relate to conduct during the period February 2002 through February 2006.

The fine amount was reduced to reflect the cooperation that SAS provided to DOJ
in its investigation, and its acceptance of responsibility for the conduct at
issue. The DOJ also recognized SAS's commitment to an improved corporate
compliance program, and SAS has already undertaken measures to strengthen its
internal compliance policy. SAS will continue to cooperate with U.S. authorities
in their continuing investigation of other air cargo carriers.

“Infringement of competition rules is and has always been entirely unacceptable
and I condemn it unreservedly. SAS has, for many years, had a strict policy in
place for compliance with competition rules as well as various control
mechanisms. It is very unfortunate and a serious problem that our policies were
not fully observed in this case” said SAS Group CEO and President Mats Jansson.
Mr. Jansson further stated that SAS has reinforced its ongoing work on
compliance with competition rules in all parts of the organization, through
supplementary training for staff and the introduction of more control
mechanisms.

The plea agreement concludes the investigation by DOJ into SAS's cargo business.
A separate investigation by the European Commission is underway, and SAS is
cooperating in that investigation as well. The Commission issued a Statement of
Objections on 20 December 2007 to a large number of air carriers, including SAS
Cargo. In the Statement of Objections, the Commission alleges that certain
investigated practices in the air cargo sector constituted infringements of EC
competition rules. SAS Cargo has submitted its response. The Commission's final
decision in the European investigation is not expected until late in 2008. It is
not possible at this time for SAS to predict the outcome, but taking the nature
of the allegations into account, an adverse outcome is likely to have a
substantial negative financial impact on SAS.


SAS Group Corporate Communications




For further information, please contact
Claus Sonberg, EVP Corporate Communications & Investor Relations, +46 8 7971660