SAS takes huge loss in third quarter despite passenger uptick

The ailing airline has faced a number of stumbling blocks over the summer, including a pilot strike and staff shortages

Benedicte Vagner

Aug 26, 2022

SAS has posted its financial results for the third quarter of 2022 … and it’s not great.

The results revealed that over the past three months the airline endured a loss of 1.3 billion kroner.

SAS was hampered by a 15-day pilot strike and thousands of cancelled flights over the summer, which ended up affecting more than 380,000 passengers.

The silver lining is that despite the obstacles, SAS still saw more passengers than expected during the summer quarter.

“Looking back at the third quarter, we continued to see increased demand as travel restrictions were eased and this is yet another quarter where we have noted the highest number of passengers since the pandemic started,” SAS wrote in its report.

Support from the US
SAS is currently receiving support from the US company Apollo Global Management in its fight for survival.

It can take 9-12 twelve months to help reform the company and Apollo Global Management is willing to loan SAS more than five billion kroner to help with the reformation process.

“After the close of the quarter, SAS secured a debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing commitment for USD 700 million from Apollo Global Management. This substantial financing commitment is an important milestone in our transformation and it gives us a strong financial position to support our operations throughout the chapter 11 process,” the airline wrote.