SAS Group strengthens its long term position in the Finnish market

SAS Group strengthens its long term position in the Finnish market

- Blue1 to phase out Avro and refocus on routes within Nordics

In order to strengthen the SAS Group's long term position in Finland and
improve the profitability in Blue1, the SAS Group has today decided to
phase out the remaining 5 Avro RJ-85 aircraft and streamline to Boeing
717. The phase out of the Avro fleet is expected to start in August 2011
and will result in maximum 85 redundancies within Blue1.

The refocus on the Finnish market will also result in closure of a
number of European destinations. Some capacity adjustments will also be
made on Finnish domestic routes. At the same time Tampere-Copenhagen
route will be opened

John Dueholm, Deputy President & CEO comments: “We strongly believe this
is an important step for Blue 1 in order to strengthen its position in
the Nordic market. The streamlining of the fleet is in line with the SAS
Group's ambition to simplify and harmonize the fleet at our home bases.
This is also consistent with our Core SAS strategy to focus on the
Nordic region as our home market”.

For further information, please contact

Tom Christides, VP Communications & Public Affairs, Blue1, +358 40
7523131