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Scandinavian carrier SAS posted a loss of minus SEK 2.6 billion during its fourth quarter. Therefore, the airline can sum up its interrupted financial year, from November 2019 to October 2020, with a profit of minus SEK 9.2 billion.
The airline noted some recovery in demand for air travel over the summer, but as soon as the spread of the infection started to pick up again in September and October, it stopped.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter of SASIn August, there were restrictions on 40 percent of the company’s destinations. That figure is now 65 percent according to the report.
“The financial quarter and year result has been heavily affected by the ongoing pandemic,” writes CEO Rickard Gustafson in a comment on the report.
Revenue in the fourth quarter decreased by more than 77 percent, compared to the same period last year. For the entire financial year, revenue was down 55 percent, or SEK 20.5 billion.
The effect of the big drop in revenue is somewhat tempered by the fact that the airline also has lower variable costs when fewer people fly, and other more active savings measures. Among other things, a large number of pilots and cabin crew were notified during the year.
Many airlines have had problems with reimbursement to customers for trips canceled during the year. Not least, SAS, whose clients in several cases turned to the bailiff because the company delayed reimbursement.
In November, the Consumer Ombudsman (KO) prohibited the airline from delaying payments for more than seven days. He violates the KO ban, he is threatened with a fine of one million crowns a month.
In the report, the company writes that various efforts have been made to accelerate the reimbursement rate and that during the quarter they reimbursed one billion SEK for canceled flights. This is a 50 percent increase compared to the previous quarter. At the same time, the company still has demands from travelers that together amount to just under an additional 1 billion SEK.
The article is up to date.
