SAS Group's July traffic figures
• SAS Group's traffic increased by 2,7% during July and seat capacity was up by 4,9% vs 2007.
• SAS Group carried 3,5 million passengers in July, down 0.3% vs 2007.
• Total load factor was down by 1.7 p.u. to 78.9%.
Group market trends and yield development
Yield for Scandinavian Airlines in June was up by 1.3%. For July 2008 the change in yield is expected to improve compared with slightly vs last year.
The market is still characterized by relatively good demand and passenger growth. The imposed fuel surcharges are gradually supporting the yield and expected to have a larger impact going forward. There are still uncertainties regarding the future macroeconomic development as well as the competitive situation.
The SAS Group is currently implementing measures - Profit 2008 - to secure the result development in 2008 in light of the record high fuel prices. The measures comprises both revenue enhancing and cost measures totaling 1,1 SEK billion. The capacity reductions will gradually start to take effect later this fall. The program is running according to set out plan.
Intercontinental traffic decreased by 2.2% vs last year and load factor decreased by 0.5 p.u. SAS Group European traffic increased by 6.4 % and load factor was down 1.4 p.u.
Spanair is reducing capacity and load factor increased slightly. Widerøe's traffic increased by 7.5% with decreasing load factor. airBaltic traffic increased by 39.5% and Blue1 decreased by 8.1%.
For further information Please contact VP,Head of SAS Group Investor Relations Sture Stølen
+ 46 8 797 1451 sture.stolen@sas.se