The SAS Group Traffic figures May 2009


The SAS Group Traffic figures May 2009

SAS Group's May traffic figures 
• SAS Group's traffic decreased by 18.1 % during May and seat capacity was down
16.7% vs. 2008.
• SAS Group carried 2.2 million passengers in May, down 17.1% vs. 2008. 
• Total passenger load factor in May was down by 1,2 p.u. to 71.5%. 

Group market trends and yield development 
The yield for Scandinavian Airlines in April was down by 11.7%, lower than
expected. For March/April the yield was down by 1.7%. For May 2009, the change
in yield is expected to be negative compared to last year due to falling demand
as a consequence of the global recession. The market is characterized by lower
demand due to significantly weaker macroeconomic development in Scandinavia and
worldwide. The market is most unpredictable and the uncertainty regarding the
timing of the recovery is considerable. SAS cannot rule out additional actions
to further offset the negative market environment. 

The SAS Group is currently implementing a new strategic approach - Core SAS - to
secure a future profitable SAS. The strategy includes cost initiatives of
approximately SEK 4.0 billion and approx. 20% (ASK) capacity reduction. The
implementation is well on track. The restructuring cost will increase
substantially in relation to what has been guided previously for 2009 due to
earlier phase out of aircraft, higher early retirement ratio than expected and
redelivery costs of leased aircraft.  
 
SAS Scandinavian Airlines 
• Total number of passengers was 1.9 million during May, a decrease by 18,6%.
• Traffic decreased by 19.0% in May.
• The load factor decreased by 1.3 p.u. during May.

The intercontinental traffic decreased 21.3% and the load factor decreased 4.2
p.u. to 78.9% as the weaker global economy affects long haul flights relatively
more than short haul. Traffic on European routes decreased by 17.4% in line with
the capacity decrease. These capacity reductions are in line with the Core SAS
Strategy. The intrascandinavian traffic decreased 15.9%. The Swedish and
Norwegian domestic traffic decreased by 21.5% and 17.8% respectively.

Widerøe's traffic development
Widerøe carried 173.000 passengers i May, down 0.8% due to the slowdown in the
economy. The capacity was down with 4.7%, resulting in an improved overall load
factor by 1.9 p.u. to 63.1%. 

Blue 1's traffic development  
The total number of passengers in May was 132 000, down 12.9 % vs last year. The
passenger load factor in May was 66.8 % up 0.6 p.u. vs last year and an
improvement of 1.8 p.u. compared with April 2009 .The number of passengers on
the Finnish domestic routes decreased by 17.9%, but the load factor improved by
3.9 p.u

For further information Please contact VP,Head of SAS Group Investor Relations
Sture Stølen 
+ 46 8 797 1451 sture.stolen@sas.se  
Homepage: www.sasgroup.net 

Attachments

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