Tuesday, February 3, 2009

SAS to axe 3,000 jobs in shake-up


Scandinavian airline SAS is to cut 3,000 jobs after reporting big losses in 2008. 

It reported net losses of 6.32bn kronor ($757m; £532m) in 2008, after profit of 636m kronor in 2007. And it lost 2.77bn kronor in the fourth quarter alone. 

The carrier has also announced it would make a 6bn kronor rights issue, as part of a financial plan called Core SAS. 

SAS said the yearly figure included a loss of 4.89bn kronor associated with the sale of Spanish subsidiary Spanair. 

The Scandinavian airline has struck a deal to sell most of its money-losing Spanair unit to a Spanish consortium for one euro. 

It had abandoned an earlier effort to sell Spanair in June 2008. 

'Turbulent year' 

The Stockholm-based airline said the share rights issue was supported by the governments of Sweden, Denmark and Finland - which own half of the struggling firm. 

It also has the backing of its biggest private shareholder, Sweden's powerful Wallenberg family. 

Airlines such as SAS have been struggling for years with overcapacity, falling demand, and competition from budget airlines. 

Easing oil prices have brought some relief but the firm is now pressing ahead with its Core SAS programme. 

SAS Chief Executive Mats Jansson said 2008 was "one of the most challenging and turbulent years that the entire aviation industry has ever experienced". 

"During the year, we saw a period of record-high oil prices, a financial crisis that heavily intensified during the final quarter and which led to an economic recession in many markets," he added. 

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