CALABASAS, Calif., Jan. 9, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- SAS (Scandinavian Airlines).
1. December in brief
Passenger traffic (RPK) showed an overall decrease of 3,1% in December 2001 vs. December 2000 and number of passengers decreased by 7,8%. Overall capacity (ASK) decreased by 4,7% and passenger load factor increased by 1,0 p.u to 62,1%.
Business Class traffic was down 15,9% and Economy Class was up 1,9%.
2. Capacity reductions leads to improved load factors Trading
conditions in December continued to be very difficult, but the
overall traffic development in December was better compared with
the October and November figures, mainly due to growth in Economy
Class on Intercontinental routes. For the first time since the
September 11 event, passenger load factor increased as capacity
cuts are taking effect. The weakness in Business Class continued
to be a challenge, but parts of this development might be
explained by a different pattern in the holidays during Christmas/
New Year. In particular traffic on the European routes continued
to be weak while the Intercontinental traffic developed
significantly stronger. The new capacity as a result of the
introduction of the Airbus A340 on Bangkok/ Singapore route was
offset by increased traffic.
The overall development in December was encouraging, but it is not possible to foresee a change in the trend at this point and the outlook remains uncertain. Yields are under pressure from the negative mix developments and promotional activities, but supported by a 5% price increase as from October 1, 2001 and the surcharge of 4USD/passenger added at the end of November.
Passenger Traffic and Capacity per route area - December 2001 Intercontinental traffic increased by 5,9% in December in line with capacity increase of 6,0%. On the North Atlantic SAS passenger load factors averaged 70,3%. The routes to/from Washington showed load factors close to 66%. Traffic to/from Asia noted a smaller decrease in passenger load factors, but overall load factors continued to be close to 80%. The introduction of the Airbus A 340 on Bangkok/Singapore route as from December 9, 2001 increased capacity by 27% and traffic increased by 28%.
Traffic on the European routes decreased by 7,3% during December 2001 vs 2000. Most parts of the capacity adjustments was finalized in December and this brought capacity down by 9,2%. The negative mix continued to be significant on the European routes. In general traffic to/from Sweden was most affected. The traffic to/from London continued to be weak.
Intrascandinavian traffic was also negatively affected during December as the feeder traffic to Copenhagen on the European routes/U.S. routes was down. Particularly the feeder traffic to/from Sweden was down, a trend experienced also before September 11 as the Swedish economy continued to weaken. Danish domestic traffic was down 19,4% mainly due to negative development to/from Greenland as Gronlandsfly has changed their flight schedule. Norwegian domestic total market continued to fall significantly during December. SAS traffic fell by 11,6% but as a result of capacity adjustments passenger load factor improved by 2,3 p.u.
Swedish domestic traffic decreased by 8,0% in December with a corresponding - 8,0% in ASK as capacity is adjusted on Swedish domestic.
For further information SAS Investor Relations: www.scandinavian.net Sture Stolen, Investor Relations +46 (8) 797 1451
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