Q1 losses not as bad as anticipated for SAS

Strike cost the airline 40 million kroner

Scandinavian Airlines' financial results for the first quarter of its financial year – a pre-tax loss of 670 million kroner on a turnover of 6.7 billion kroner – might look less than rosy, but it's actually far better than experts had anticipated.

The profit margin for the period came in at -7.8 percent, compared to 1.7 percent last year during the same period. SAS's expectations remain the same for the rest of the year.

“The first quarter of the fiscal year [November-January] is seasonally the weakest and SAS posted income before tax and non-recurring items of -670 million kroner,” Rickard Gustafson, the CEO of SAS, said.

”This is an earnings improvement of 275 million kroner and an increase in unit revenue of 6.7 percent compared with the year-earlier period, which confirms that our commercial focus on Scandinavia’s frequent travellers is generating effect.”

READ MORE: SAS back in the skies as strike ends

"Exciting 2015"
Gustafson was excited about 2015, looking forward to the delivery of the airline's first new Airbus A330E long-haul aircraft and the opening of a new direct route between Stockholm and Hong Kong

The airline has been under pressure over the past week thanks to a cabin crew strike that lasted several days and led to over 300 departures being cancelled.

SAS estimated that the strike cost them around 40 million kroner.




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