09/02-2010 08:02:08: (SAS-NOK) The SAS Group Traffic figures January 2010

The SAS Group Traffic figures January 2010

SAS Group's January 2010 traffic figures 
. SAS Group's traffic decreased by 5.1% during January and seat capacity
was down 12.3% vs. 2009.
. SAS Group carried 1.7 million passengers in January, down 3.7% vs.
2009. 
. Passenger load factor was 65.6%, up 4.9 p.u. vs. January 2009.

Group market trends and yield development 
The yield for Scandinavian Airlines in December 2009 was down by 6.8%,
as expected and better than the development in November. For January
2010, the change in yield is also expected to negative. The market
continues to be unpredictable and the uncertainty regarding the timing
of the recovery is considerable.

The SAS Group is currently implementing its Core SAS strategy. The
strategy includes cost reduction initiatives that from February 2010
have been increased by SEK 2.0 bn to a total of SEK 7.3 bn as well as a
20% reduction in capacity. The capacity reductions are almost completed.
The implementation of the cost reductions is well on track with a result
impact in 2009 of SEK 2.2 bn with the remaining result effect of SEK 5
bn. In addition, a letter of intent has been agreed with the cabin crew
and pilots union to reduce costs by an additional MSEK 500. 

Scandinavian Airlines 
. Total number of passengers was 1.4 million during January, down by
4.4%.
. The traffic decreased by 6% and the capacity was down by 13.4%.
. The load factor developed well with an all time high load of 66.6%

The intercontinental traffic decreased 5.2% and the capacity was reduced
by 13.9% resulting in a strongly improved load factor of 7.1 p.u to
78.1%. On European routes, traffic decreased by 9.3%, but the load
factor improved by 4.3 p.u. Scandinavian Airlines' market share is
relatively stable on the core European business routes. The
intrascandinavian traffic decreased by 2.2% and the capacity was reduced
by 17% resulting in an improved load factor of 9.3 p.u. The Norwegian
domestic traffic was down 3.9%, but as capacity was reduced by 7.5% the
load factor improved 2.2 p.u. Traffic on Swedish domestic routes was up
0.5% and the load factor increased by 3.2 p.u. 

Widerøe's traffic development
Widerøe carried 147,000 passengers in January, an increase by 1.9%. The
traffic increased by 4%. The growth is predominantly related to growth
in the Norwegian domestic network and shorter international routes.
Since the capacity was reduced by 2.3%, Widerøe's load factor improved
by 3.2 p.u. to 52.5%.

Blue 1's traffic development  
Blue1's traffic increased during January by 8.1% and the capacity was
increased by 3.9%. The growth was driven by the development on European
and Finnish domestic routes. The load factor improved by 2.3 p.u. to 59%
with positive  booking development. Due to capacity reductions on
shorter routes, number of passengers decreased slightly by 0.3% over the
prior year and was 95,000.

For further information Please contact VP, Head of SAS Group Investor
Relations Sture Stølen + 46 8 797 1451 sture.stolen@sas.se  Homepage:
www.sasgroup.net

Ekstern link: http://www.newsweb.no/index.jsp?messageId=253678

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