Scandinavian carrier SAS’s first-half pre-tax losses have deepened by 7% to SKr4.1 billion ($384 million), which the company attributes to currency effects.
SAS states that currency had an SKr862 million negative impact on the six-month figures to 30 April.
But it calculates that, adjusted for currency, the pre-tax profit would have improved by SKr587 million.
SAS’s first-half revenues increased by 12% to SKr18.9 billion while the company kept the rise in expenditure to 5.5%, generating a 25% reduction in operating losses to SKr2.69 billion.
Chief executive Anko van der Werff says ticket sales over the half-year were “strong” and the company achieved “solid” operating cash-flow.
SAS remains under US Chapter 11 protection, while it nears the end of a restructuring programme which involves recapitalisation and a switch of alliance membership from Star to SkyTeam in September.
The carrier is maintaining full-year financial projections of more than SKr48 billion in revenues and an adjusted pre-tax result ranging between break-even and a loss of SKr1 billion.
Van der Werff says the carrier is entering the summer season with a network of over 130 destinations, and preparations are underway for the winter.
“We see an increasing number of Europeans traveling to northern Scandinavia during the winter season and we are expanding our network with new direct routes to Tromso, Kiruna, Rovaniemi and Scandinavian Mountains Airport Salen-Trysil,” he adds.
SAS has recently reached a SKr4.5 billion extension agreement with Nordic travel firm Apollo covering charter operations in Scandinavia for three years, to summer 2027.
