SAS’ outlook in the third quarter report was “that it will be challenging to reach a positive result before tax and items affecting comparability in fiscal year 2019”. As a result of strong passenger figures and an improved unit revenue, the outlook is revised as SAS’ earnings before tax and items affecting comparability is estimated to be in the range of SEK 700-800 million (US$72-82 million) for the fiscal year 2019.
SAS’ total traffic capacity increased with 2.2% and the number of passengers increased with 3.6% compared to October 2018. Regularity and punctuality also showed a strong improvement with an increase of 0.8 points and 1.5 points respectively.
Domestic revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) increased by 5.7% across the three Scandinavian countries. The growth was also substantial on European/Intra-Scandinavian routes where RPK increased with 5.5%. Total passenger load factor increased with 0.7 points to 76.3% and supported an improved currency adjusted unit revenue and yield, which increased with 2.3% and 1.6% respectively.
