The SAS Group traffic figures - November 2003

The SAS Group Traffic figures November 2003 The SAS Group · Total passenger traffic (RPK) increased by 0,5% in November vs 2002. · The SAS Group transported a total of 2,5 million passengers in November 2003 vs 2,6 million in 2002, a decrease of 4,6%. · Overall group passenger load factor decreased by 1,1 p.u to 59,0% for November 2003 vs. 2002. Market trends and yield development The traffic development in November showed a small increase, but with reduced passenger yields across all airlines in the Group. Overall passenger load factor decreased 1,1 p.u. and passenger traffic increased by 0,5% during November. In general, growth has improved slightly on European and intercontinental routes, but the domestic and Intrascandinavian markets are still caracterized by weak demand. Braathens traffic increased in November driven by the positive development on international routes. Adjusted for a method change Spanair's traffic increased in November with improved load but with reduced yields . A slightly reduced overall yield decrease was expected for October compared with earlier months and the outcome showed yields down 10,1% month by month and 12,4% for the period Jan- Oct. Yields on the European routes were down approx 18% in October. The overall yield development in October showed some improvements compared with previous months, but indications for the last two months of 2003 shows continued pressure on yields. Price cuts were implemented in Scandinavia as from October 26 and it will push yields further as from November by approx. 2-3% vs 2002. The restructuring plan "Turnaround 2005", is proceeding according to plan in order to secure a sustained profitability level in a lower yield environment. Due to the situation with continued yield pressure, the outlook remains cautious. Scandinavian Airlines · Scandinavian Airlines traffic (RPK) decreased by 1,3% in November 2003 compared with 2002. - Scandinavian Airlines passenger load factor decreased by 1,6 p.u. to 61,8% Demand on the long haul routes showed some strenght during November. Intercontinental traffic in November increased by 0,4% vs 2002 and load factors improved by 2,9 p.u. Traffic on the European routes was up 4,5%. Snowflake has its low season now and showed a load factor slightly below 50%. Intrascandinavian traffic was characterized by slow demand. Norwegian domestic market has improved compared with previous months, while demand on Swedish domestic routes has weakened significantly. Internet Sales The proportion of Internet sales on wwww.scandinavian.net was 5,1% in October 2003 compared with 1,7% in October 2002. Punctuality Within 15 minutes 89,8% of flights departed on time and within 2 minutes 66,1% of flights departed on time. Spanair traffic development Spanair adjusted to the seasonal variations and reduced the total capacity slightly in November. The overall ASK decreased by 4,0% and the RPK with 3,6% compared to last year. Within the domestic network, capacity has been moved from the Balearic Islands to the Canary Islands and also to routes within the Iberian Peninsula. Compared to November last year, the domestic ASK decreased by 1,4% and the RPK by 5,1 %, resulting in a 2,1 p.u. lower load factor. Generally, the European markets developed slower than the domestic but through a careful capacity adjustment, Spanair managed to increase the load factor with 6,3 p.u.. The ASK was 11,1% lower than last year while the RPK grew with 1,9%. The route between Madrid-Frankfurt expanded from two to three daily flights in May 2003. Valencia-Munich developed from 1 to 2 daily flights compared to November last year compensating for the cancellation of Malaga-Munich from the beginning of September. The route Madrid-Stockholm is temporarily suspended until summer 2004. Last year "part charter" flights were accounted as schedule, but are not included in the figures since January 2003. Adjusted for this method change overall ASK grew by 3,5% compared to last year, RPK grew by 6% and load factor grew with 1,1 p.u. to 52,6%. Braathens traffic development: Braathens scheduled passenger traffic (RPK) showed an overall increase of 15,5% in November 2003 vs. November 2002 and the number of passengers increased by 1,0 %. Capacity (ASK) increased by 11,4% and the passenger load factor increased by 2,0 p.u. to 55,5%. The Norwegian domestic routes showed a 2,6% decrease in RPK while ASK increased by 1,1 % in November 2003 vs. November 2002. Domestic passenger load factor decreased by 2,0 p.u. to 51,9% in November 2003 vs. November 2002. The increase in number of passengers, RPK and ASK on international routes reflects the opening of new routes on March 30 2003. Passenger load factor on international routes increased by 14,9 p.u. to 66,9% in November 2003 vs. November 2002. Widerøe's traffic development Total number of passengers was reduced by 0.8% in November compared with last year. However, traffic in RPKs was up by 0.9%, as a result of increased average distance. With a capacity increase of 0.8%, overall load factor increased slightly to 52.7%. Load factor on the domestic sector developed positively, but on the UK market the load factor declined as traffic did not increase in line with capacity. Blue 1's traffic development Blue1's total passenger traffic (RPK) increased with 58% compared to last year and the capacity (ASK) increased with 56%. With a passenger increase of 52%, Blue1 continued to gain market share. For further information Please contact Head of SAS Group Investor Relations Sture Stølen + 46 8 797 1451 sture.stolen@sas.se Homepage: www.sasgroup.net ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/12/08/20031208BIT00220/wkr0001.doc The full report http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/12/08/20031208BIT00220/wkr0002.pdf The full report