Airline SAS to boost capacity after first quarterly profit since 2019

SAS plans to ramp-up winter capacity this year, the company said on Friday as it posted its first quarterly pretax profit since late 2019, aided by lower fuel costs, higher ticket prices and strong demand. The airline, which has been under bankruptcy protection since July 2022, swung to a pretax profit of 457m Swedish crowns ($42m) in its third quarter to July 31 from a 1.99b crowns loss a year earlier. "We still have a lot of work ahead of us with our transformation to secure long-term competitiveness, but I consider this a clear sign that we are on the right track," CEO Anko van der Werff said. "We continue our ramp-up and will increase capacity this winter ... We also noted strong ticket sales throughout the third quarter, indicating a healthy underlying demand for travel despite a more uncertain economic outlook," van der Werff added, without giving any specific details of planned capacity increases. The third quarter, covering much of the Nordic summer, is usually one of the airline's most profitable periods, along with its August to October fourth quarter. Sydbank analyst Jacob Pedersen said the earnings were roughly 1000m crowns better than his expectations of 326m, due to less currency impact than he had expected.<br/>