SAS Group's April 2013 traffic figures
• SAS Group’s capacity (ASK) was up by 10.4% and the Group’s traffic (RPK) increased by 1.5%.
• The SAS Group’s load factor decreased by 6.1 p.u. to 69.5%.
• SAS Group carried 2.5 million passengers in April, up 6.5%.
Group market trends, RASK and yield development
The traffic continued to develop as expected during April with number of passengers growing primarily on shorter routes. However, despite good response to the increased capacity, demand did not match and the load was lower, due to the timing of Easter and also due to the launch of 8 European routes since 31 March where demand still is seasonally relatively low.
Currency adjusted yield (Scandinavian Airlines) in March 2013 was down 2.7% versus previous year and RASK was down 3.9%, due to the timing of Easter as expected. In April 2013 the change in yield vs. last year is expected to be positive and the change in RASK to be in line with last year.
Overall, the market demand continues to be good. Despite yield has been somewhat more stable in recent months, the over capacity on certain routes adds uncertainty to the yield and RASK outlook going forward and the SAS Group expects a negative trend for the RASK and yield for the full year 2012/13. The capacity increase for 2012/13 is expected to be approximately 5-6%.
SAS Group product and news update
• As the first airline in world, SAS has achieved IATA Fast Travel Award Platinum status as at least 80% of passengers are invited to use various self-services during the flights.
• SAS and Turkish Airlines entered into a code-share agreement that offers passengers easy access to six destinations in Turkey from April 2013.
• SAS and Jet Time have signed an agreement on the wet lease of four factory-new ATR72-600s from the winter timetable 2013-14.
Scandinavian Airlines traffic development
• Number of passengers increased by 5.3% to 2.2 million.
• Traffic increased by 1.1% and capacity was up 10.0%.
• The load factor was 70.0%, down 6.2 p.u.
Traffic increased slightly in April, generally as shorter routes grew stronger as a result of the timing of Easter in 2013. Traffic on intercontinental routes decreased 1.7% but it should be noted that comparable numbers were strong. The new route Copenhagen-San Francisco performed well with a load factor above 80%.
The European/intrascandinavian traffic was unchanged, but the load factor was weaker as demand still is seasonally relatively low on leisure routes. On domestic routes, traffic grew by 10% and number of passengers increased by more than 10%. The growth was particularly strong in Denmark and Norway.
Widerøe traffic development
Widerøe carried 251,000 passengers in April, up 18,3% vs. last year. The growth was driven by 19.4% higher capacity reflecting the Easter timing. The load factor was down 1.5 p.u. to 56,2%. During April, Widerøe’s growth and regularity were negatively affected by industrial action at up to 6 airports.
Punctuality* April 2013
SAS: 85.8% Widerøe: 85.1%
Regularity April 2013
SAS: 98.2% Widerøe: 93.0%
Kilde: http://feed.ne.cision.com/wpyfs/00/00/00/00/00/1F/2E/0D/wkr0006.pdf