The SAS Group Traffic Figure June 2003

The SAS Group Traffic Figure June 2003 The SAS Group I. ? The SAS Group transported a total of 2,9 million passengers in June 2003 vs 3,1 million in 2002, a decrease of 5,3%. II. ? Total passenger traffic (RPK) decreased by 1,2% vs 2002. III. ? Overall group passenger load factor decreased by 2,8 p.u to 69,3% for June 2003 vs. 2002. Market trends and yield development The traffic development in June is reflecting a gradually improving demand environment compared with the previous months. Traffic on North America has recovered and passenger load factor gradually surpassed 90% in June. Forward bookings for Asian routes are also improving, but from a low level. Traffic in Spanair and Braathens developed positively, up 14,0% and 21,5% respectively, but it must be noted that also these airlines experience a significant pressure on yields. Indications of passenger yield development for Scandinavian Airlines in May indicate an continued pressure as a result of negative mix, a number of sales campaigns and new market initiatives. Yields on the European routes were down 16% in May, affected by the introduction of the new low fare initiative Snowflake (8-9 p.u.) and the holiday pattern in May. Underlying development is similar to previous months. The overall yield development in May is slightly better than the figures reported for the previous months, however the yield pressure for European short haul routes is still significant. Forceful cost measures are under implementation to secure a sustained profitability level in this lower yield environment. Due to the situation with continued weak economies and the general uncertainties, the outlook remains cautious. Scandinavian Airlines I. ? Scandinavian Airlines traffic (RPK) decreased by 7,2% in June 2003 compared with 2002. II. ? Scandinavian Airlines passenger load factor decreased by 3,1 p.u. to 72,5% Intercontinental traffic decreased by 5,2% in June. Traffic to/from the U.S has improved significantly and traffic to/ from South East Asia has improved significantly from the end of June. Scandinavian Airlines will resume its daily traffic to Beijing as from 22 August. The demand on the European routes has improved somewhat and traffic was up 1,7%. Passenger load factor on the new low price initative, Snowflake, was close to 75% in June. Intrascandinavian traffic continued to be weak. Danish domestic traffic was down mainly as a result of the discontinued Greenland route. Norwegian and Swedish domestic traffic havebeen reduced but improved cabin factors. Internet Sales The proportion of internet sales on wwww.scandinavian.net was 3,5% in May 2003 compared with 1,1% in May 2002. Spanair traffic development The overall passenger load factor for scheduled routes decreased by by 3,0p.u. in June versus last year to 60,8%. On the domestic routes capacity increased by 11,2% and traffic increased by 8,2%, resulting in a decrease in cabin factor of 1,7 percentage units. More long-distance capacity increased the ASK by 45,6% on european routes. The services between Scandinavia and Spain have, during the peak season, increased from 26 to 45 weekly flights. During the summer months 2003, the new route Madrid-Oslo and extra flights Madrid-Copenhagen have been added. The total European market develops slowly but Spanair managed to almost maintain last years cabin factor despite the increase in capacity. Braathens traffic development: Braathens scheduled passenger traffic (RPK) showed an overall increase of 21,5% in June 2003 vs. 2002 and the number of passengers increased by 8,6%. Capacity (ASK) increased by 15,6% and the passenger load factor increased by 3,2 p.u. to 66,3%. The Norwegian domestic routes showed a 6,1% increase in RPK and a 7,3% increase in ASK in June 2003 vs. June 2002. As a result domestic passenger load factor decreased by 0,7 p.u. to 63,6% in June 2003 vs. 2002. The increase in number of passengers, RPK and ASK on international routes can be explained by the opening of new routes on March 30 2003. Passengers load factor on international routes increased by 15,2 p.u. to 73,3% in June 2003 vs. June 2002. Widerøe's traffic development Total amount of passengers rose by 20.1% in June compared with last year, mainly because of the introduction of new routes from October 2002 and onwards. A significant increase in load factor is also being registered on the domestic by 6,6 p.u.and the intrascandinavian sector by 2.1 p.u. respectively, where capacity adjustments have been done during the last months, especially on the regional network in southern Norway. On the routes to UK load factor was negatively affected due to the adding of extra capacity. Overall load factor rose by 4.6 p.u. in June compared with last year. Air Botnia's traffic development Air Botnia's total passenger traffic (RPK) increased with 26% compared to last year. The capacity increase (ASK) of 43% was partly due to change in route mix with more capacity on longer routes. During weak market conditions Air Botnia managed to increase number of passengers with 17%. Thereby Air Botnia maintain the positive trend of gaining significant market share on international traffic to/from Finland. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/08/25/20030825BIT00260/wkr0001.doc The full report http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/08/25/20030825BIT00260/wkr0002.pdf The full report