The number of passengers traveling with SAS increased slightly in December, compared to the previous month. The increase is primarily due to increased demand for domestic travel during the weekends.
A total of 388,000 people traveled with SAS during the month of December, according to new figures from the airline. This corresponds to a decrease of 80 percent compared to the same month the previous year, but an increase of 18 percent compared to November.
The company reduced its capacity by 6 percent in December compared to November, which corresponds to a decrease of 74 percent compared to the previous year.
The cabin load factor was 33 percent, an increase of 8 percentage points from November. The increase is primarily due to increased demand for domestic travel during the weekends, the company said.
”"Demand continues to be significantly negatively affected by current travel restrictions and travel during the weekends was significantly lower than normal for the month of December. SAS continues to continuously adjust its capacity based on demand, which is expected to remain at low levels throughout the winter season," SAS CEO Rickard Gustafson said in a comment.
However, he adds that the development of vaccines and the initiated vaccination programs against Covid-19 are "encouraging and a prerequisite for a speedy normalization of the aviation industry.".
SAS shares are down 1.3 percent on Tuesday morning. Yesterday evening, the company announced that Rickard Gustafson will leave his role as CEO to instead take over the corresponding position at ball bearing manufacturer SKF.
Source: di.se
