284

News

Business Round-Up: SAS fighting back as it takes to the skies again

Anna Maryam Smith & Ambika Venkatesh
May 29th, 2020


This article is more than 4 years old.

SAS intends to fight back (Photo: Cph airport)

After suffering major losses in the second quarter of its 2019-20 financial year due to the Coronavirus Crisis, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) is fighting back and reopening two new routes to the US from June 10.

The aviation industry is facing a global crisis, and SAS has been spared no mercy, emerging out of the three months concluding April 30 with a loss of over 2.4 billion kroner.

After grounding 135 of its 150 aircraft during the lockdown, the number of passengers fell by 60 percent in March, and then by 96 percent in April.

Savings plan
In order to stem the bleeding, SAS plans to cut 5,000 employees, of which 1,700 are employees in Denmark.

Additionally, the airline, which is partly owned by the Danish state, has outlined plans to save 3 billion kroner by the end of 2022.

More flights
As capacity increases over the next couple of weeks, and travel restrictions are eased, SAS plans to launch an additional flight to Aarhus from June 2, along with services from Copenhagen to Amsterdam, Bergen and Stavanger from June 8.

And then on June 10, SAS will open up two long-haul flights from Copenhagen to Chicago and New York.

“In addition to the destinations and routes that are now being added to the traffic program, SAS plans to offer more flights and destinations as the various countries’ travel guides are eased and demand for travel increases in Scandinavia and globally,” noted SAS.


Matas pays back salary compensation: “We don’t need the money”
Matas received 13 million kroner in employee wage compensation, but has returned it to the government after only suffering a small drop in sales and earnings during the first three weeks of the lockdown. Matas was included in the group of ‘socially needed’ stores during the crisis, which enabled 240 stores to remain open. “We don’t need the money,” noted Matas.

New law secures the rights of Danish companies on digital platforms
Digital platforms open up new markets and opportunities to Danish companies. Unfortunately one in every four companies faces issues such as being thrown off the platform without justification. Parliament has passed a law aimed at protecting the rights of these companies in co-operation with digital platforms. 

Podimo lands investment of 112 million kroner
83North, e.ventures and Danish Heartcore have injected 112 million kroner into Danish-founded podcast service Podimo. Deloitte predicts the podcast market will increase by 30 percent in 2020, and the 83North contribution will help Podimo shape the future of podcasts in Denmark and the rest of the world.

Government under pressure to extend compensation way beyond June 8
The current wage compensation aid packages are set to end on June 8. However, the government is strongly considering extending the length of the aid packages to August. Meetings to discuss the extension are ongoing this week, after pressure was exerted on the government by Dansk Industri, Dansk Erhverv and Horesta. 

Pandemic good news for jogging enterprise
While most businesses are suffering greatly during the pandemic, others are actually benefiting. Because of the increased number of people running for fitness, Løbeshop.dk has hired 15 new employees over the past three weeks in order to keep up with the demand. 

 


Share

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to receive The Daily Post

















Latest Podcast