2.5 million traveled with SAS in April

SAS cancels 100 departuresSAS airlines. Photo: SAS

SAS had a growth in the number of passengers by 5.6 percent in April, meaning an increase of 2.5 million travellers. At the same time, the airline struggled to fill up their aircraft.

 

The ‘passenger load factor’ shows how full the aircraft are, and the April figures show that it fell down to 72.7 percent, meaning a decrease of 3 percent. At the same time, scheduled traffic fell by 2.2 per cent, while capacity increased by 1.9 per cent.

“As Easter fell at a different time from last year, SAS adjusted its network and increased capacity on more business-oriented routes in April,” SAS writes in a press release.

The company states that the result was a higher traffic volume, especially on shorter routes within Scandinavia, something which had a positive effect on both the so-called ‘yield’ and the ‘PASK’ – revenue per passenger kilometer and the income per available-seat kilometer.

The company, however, notes the currency fluctuations and states that the strong US dollar will have a negative impact on earnings in the second quarter by more than 200 million Swedish kroner.

“At the same time, the efficiency program is now being implemented. As previously announced, it is expected to result in total restructuring costs of 1 billion Swedish kroner.

In the 2017/18 fiscal year, the airline plans to increase its capacity by 1 to 3 percent, by use of by longer European routes and the fact that the Airbus A320neo machines have more seats than the aircraft they replace.

 

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today