Billion surplus for SAS in the third quarter

SAS cancels 100 departuresSAS airlines. Photo: SAS

SAS  has delivered a strong result for the third quarter, with a profit before taxes of 1.036 million Swedish kronor. That’s a slight increase from the same period last year.

While the second quarter was slightly weak for SAS, the result in the third quarter was then exceeding one billion Swedish kronor.

– We are pleased that we get a billion surplus in a tough competitive environment. We are pleased that SAS products are well accepted in the market, and it’s nice to see that we have so many satisfied customers, Eivind Roald, Executive Vice President of SAS Norway,   says to the news agency NTB.

Increase despite pilot strike

SAS has deviating accounting  years, which means that their second quarter report includes the months of March to July this year. The turnover was at 11.1 billion Swedish kronor, up from just under 11 billion at the same period last year.

– We have had an increase in sales despite the fact that we had a pilot strike in June. Despite the strike, we have increased our revenue by 160 million. If we had avoided this strike, we would probably have got 300 million  on our top lines,  Roald  continues.

Currency effects

According to SAS, the result was also boosted by lower fuel prices, which in turn was offset by negative currency effects. Despite the fact that the company described the second quarter as disappointing, they retained the prognosis that they expected a profit before taxes for the financial year 2015/2016, writes E24.

– The Norwegian krone has developed in the wrong direction, and we see major value effects that affects us negatively . So under those circumstances, we have to say that we are pleased with the third quarter. It is also gratifying that we have increased passenger growth in August, with an increase of four percent. This shows a positive trend for the first month in the fourth quarter, says Roald.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today