SAS launches comprehensive plan to improve profitability and secure long-term financial preparedness

SAS launched a new comprehensive plan to pave the way for a new, strong and competitive SAS. The plan needs to be fully implemented and new collective agreements must be signed in a very short space of time in order for SAS to have access to necessary funding. This plan will give SAS a fresh start and will create a completely new platform for the future. It is a profound plan that demands a lot from the entire organisation, but that needs to be implemented to allow the company to adapt to the current market conditions. It will enable SAS to compete effectively in the expanding private travel market, while retaining its strong position in the important business travel market. This plan will ensure that the conditions in all of the collective agreements are fully in line with the market, it will eliminate complexity by centralising and reducing administration, and it will make SAS more flexible by outsourcing more work to external suppliers. SAS’s banks and main shareholders have given this plan their full support and will make credit available to SAS on equal terms. However, this support is conditional upon SAS delivering fully to this plan and upon the new collective agreements being signed in a very short space of time. The plan will result in total annual savings of around SEK 3bn and will also see some of SAS’s assets being sold at a value of around SEK 3bn. This will make SAS less dependent on external lenders in the future. The Board has given its unanimous support to this plan and recommends that all of the company’s employees support it as well. The Board will meet again on Sunday November 18, 2012 to decide if the conditions for the implementation of the plan exist. “This truly is our ‘final call’ if there is to be a SAS in the future. We have been given this final chance to make a fresh start and to carry on these fundamental changes. I know that we are asking a lot of our employees, but there is no other way. I hope that our loyal and dedicated employees are willing to fight for the survival of SAS and for our jobs. If we do this, we will be able to invest in new aircraft in the long term and to further develop our operations. This will ensure that SAS will continue to play an important role for millions of people in Scandinavia in the future,” says Rickard Gustafson, President and CEO of SAS.