The SAS Group Traffic figures June 2010
SAS Group’s June 2010 traffic figures
· SAS Group’s traffic (RPK) increased by 0.4% during June while seat capacity (ASK) was down 3.3% vs same period in 2009.
· SAS Group carried 2.4 million passengers in June, down 0.5% vs. same period in 2009.
· The passenger load factor was record high for a June month and reached 79.7%, up 3 p.u. vs 2009.
Group market trends and yield development
The currency adjusted yield for Scandinavian Airlines in May 2010 was down by 4.9%. Due to the significantly improved load factor in May, RASK increased by 0.1%. The yield outlook for June indicate yield (change) in line with May. The market continues to be unpredictable but a recovery has been noted on Asian routes, most US routes and selected European routes, however the uncertainty still remains in particular on the yield development going forward. SAS has as a result initiated yield enhancing measures going forward to offset the negative yield development.
The implementation of the Core SAS strategy including cost saving initiatives is on track.
SAS Group Product and network update
· As from 1 July, SAS Group simplified the entire baggage allowance concept and introduced a new and improved concept for travel on and after October 1st 2010.
· SAS has introduced value based redemption within the EuroBonus frequent flyer program.
Scandinavian Airlines
• Total number of passengers was 2.1 million during June, down 1.5% vs last year.
• The traffic decreased by 1.1% and capacity was down 5.1%
• The load factor was up by 3.3 p.u. to 80.4% also a record high load factor for June.
The intercontinental traffic grew by 4.5% in June with record high load factor of 93.7%. Traffic increased 26% on Asia, but was down 6% on the USA market (due to the closure of one destination). Business Class to/from Asia increased by over 40% and was also positive on USA routes. On European routes, the capacity was down by 6.7% which resulted in a decrease in traffic by 4.8%, but with 1.5 p.u. improved load factor. Traffic on the intrascandinavian routes grew by 4.7% in June combined with 2.5 p.u. improvement of the load factor. Norwegian domestic traffic decreased by 8.8%, negatively affected by fierce competition. The Swedish domestic traffic increased 6.9%, albeit industrial actions originating from regional carriers during one half day.
Widerøe and Blue1’s traffic development
Widerøe carried 193.000 passengers in June up 0.4% vs last year. However, the capacity was increased 8.3% as the company took over several F50 routes from SAS, extra Q400 in production and a new daily service between Oslo and Brønnøysund. The market has not yet responded to all of the capacity and the overall load factor was down by 4.3 p.u. to 62.6%.
Blue1’s traffic increased strongly by 25.4% during June, particularly driven by strong growth on European routes. The total load factor improved by 3.3 p.u. to 77.5% with strongest performance on Finnish domestic routes. The number of passengers increased by 12.7% to 157,000.For further information Please contact VP,Head of SAS Group Investor Relations Sture Stølen
+ 46 8 797 1451 sture.stolen@sas.se (sture.stolen@sas.se) Homepage: www.sasgroup.net (https://www.sasgroup.net/)