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The SAS Group Traffic figures April 2010

May 7, 2010 11:00

SAS Group’s April 2010 traffic figures
• The traffic development in April was significantly affected by the closure of major parts of the European airspace during almost one week in April due to the volcanic ashes.
• Adjusted for the closure of the traffic, the underlying development in April showed a small growth in passenger numbers, a close to stable traffic development and reduced capacity by approximately 9%.
• SAS Group’s traffic (RPK) decreased by 24.3% during April and seat capacity (ASK) was down 21.2% vs same period in 2009.
• SAS Group carried 1.6 million passengers in April, down 28.1% vs. same period in 2009.
• Passenger load factor was 69.6%, down 2.9 p.u. The negative effect from the ash cloud is estimated to 9 p.u.

Group market trends and yield development
The currency adjusted yield for Scandinavian Airlines in March 2010 was down by 10.1% but RASK was up 3.1% due to the improvement of the load factor. The yield outlook for April is more uncertain due to the closure of the airspace following the volcanic ashes in Iceland. However, the change in yield is expected to be negative. The effect from the volcanic ashes has affected bookings also for May and June, but it is too early to assess the effects on traffic. Bookings are now almost back to normal levels. The market continues to be unpredictable and the uncertainty regarding the timing of a recovery is considerable.

SAS estimates the negative impact from the ash cloud on earnings up to May 7 to be between MSEK 650 and 700. The estimate includes among other things lost bookings up to May 7, extra costs for alternative transportation and reimbursements to our customers such as hotel accommodation expenses.

Scandinavian Airlines
• Total number of passengers was 1.3 million during April, down 28.1% and significantly effected by the closure of the traffic due to the volcanic ashes in Iceland.
• The traffic decreased by 24.2% and capacity was reduced by 21.1%
• The load factor decreased by 2.9 p.u. to 70.5%.

The intercontinental traffic was least affected as some flight could be performed as normalTraffic decreased with 9.8% while capacity was down 15% resulting in an improved load factor of 4.9 p.u to 84.9%. On European routes, traffic decreased by 32.8% and load factor decreased by 5.4 p.u. to 66.7%. The intrascandinavian capacity decreased by 17.3% and traffic was down 27%. The Norwegian domestic traffic was down 28.7% and capacity was down by 14.8%. Traffic on Swedish domestic routes was down 29.9% and the capacity decreased 23.9%.

Widerøe’s traffic development
Widerøe carried 125.000 passengers in April, down 24.9% vs last year. The overall load factor was down by 8 p.u. The traffic was affected by the volcanic ashes from Iceland. In total Widerøe cancelled 1348 scheduled flights, and had a cancellation rate of 16.9% for the whole month.

Blue 1’s traffic development
Blue1’s traffic decreased 24.4% during April and capacity was down 23.8%, mainly due to the closure of the air space in Europe and Finland during parts of the month. The number of carried passengers as a result decreased by 32.7%. The passenger load factor was down 0.5 p.u. albeit there were higher levels of no shows immediately after the opening of the air space.For further information Please contact VP,Head of SAS Group Investor Relations Sture Stølen + 46 8 797 1451 sture.stolen@sas.se Homepage: www.sasgroup.net

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