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SAS

SAS records heavy third quarter losses

Scandinavian airline SAS faced mounting worries on Wednesday as the company posted heavy losses for the thirds quarter.

SAS said its results were weighed down by crises in the financial and airline sectors and a deadly crash involving its subsidiary Spanair.

The SAS group reported a net loss for the July to September period of 2 billion kronor ($260 million) compared to a profit of 701 million a year earlier, and reiterated that structural changes lay ahead for the group.

“Naturally, our result for the quarter is not satisfactory,” chief executive Mats Jansson said in a statement, referring to a “three-dimensional crisis.”

“The financial crisis has come top of the crisis in the industry and strengthens the negative economic trend. In addition to this, we have our own SAS-specific problems,” he said.

The SAS share plunged on the news, shedding 5.41 percent in early trading on the Stockholm stock exchange which was down by 0.97 percent.

The crash of a Spanair plane in Madrid on August 20 that left 154 people dead was expected to cost the carrier 1.95 billion kronor, SAS said.

The group registered an operating loss for the third quarter of 1.66 billion kronor, compared to a profit of 529 million kronor in the corresponding period a year ago.

Sales rose slightly however, by 0.35 percent, to 16.3 billion kronor.

The group fell into the red in the second quarter, posting a loss of 411 million kronor.

Jansson said negotiations on structural changes were still ongoing.

Management was “focusing intensely on assessing various structural solutions and alternatives,” he said.

The group in August announced it would step up its restructuring programme, reducing its fleet by 10 percent and cut 2,500 jobs.

The programme will be further widened with new cost savings of three to four billion kronor, the company said on Wednesday.

Media reports in September speculated that German carrier Lufthansa may be preparing a bid for SAS.

SAS

‘We agree to disagree’: Still no progress in marathon SAS strike talks

By lunchtime on Friday, talks between the Scandinavian airline SAS and unions representing striking pilots were still stuck on "difficult issues".

'We agree to disagree': Still no progress in marathon SAS strike talks

“We agree that we disagree,” Roger Klokset, from the Norwegian pilots’ union, said at lunchtime outside the headquarters of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise in Stockholm, where talks are taking place. “We are still working to find a solution, and so long as there is still some point in continuing negotiations, we will do that.” 

Mats Ruland, a mediator for the Norwegian government, said that there were “still several difficult issues which need to be solved”. 

At 1pm on Friday, the two sides took a short break from the talks for lunch, after starting at 9am. On Thursday, they negotiated for 15 hours, breaking off at 1am on Friday morning. 

READ ALSO: What’s the latest on the SAS plane strike?

Marianne Hernæs, SAS’s negotiator on Friday told journalists she was tired after sitting at the negotiating table long into the night. 

“We need to find a model where we can meet in the middle and which can ensure that we pull in the income that we are dependent on,” she said. 

Klokset said that there was “a good atmosphere” in the talks, and that the unions were sticking together to represent their members.

“I think we’ve been extremely flexible so far. It’s ‘out of this world’,’ said Henrik Thyregod, with the Danish pilots’ union. 

“This could have been solved back in December if SAS had not made unreasonable demands on the pilots,” Klokset added. 

The strike, which is now in its 12th day, has cost SAS up to 130m kronor a day, with 2,550 flights cancelled by Thursday, affecting 270,000 passengers. 

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