SAS traffic figures - November 2015

• Scheduled traffic (RPK) increased 9.6% and the capacity (ASK) was up by 9.8%.
• The load factor decreased by 0.2 p.u. to 69.3%.
• SAS carried 2.2 million scheduled passengers in November, up 3.7%.
• The preliminary currency adjusted yield and PASK were both down 7% and the nominal yield and PASK were down 8% in November 2015.

Market development and commentary
Demand has been positive in Scandinavia during 2015. Overall market capacity has gradually started to increase during the last months and this trend is expected to continue, primarily on international routes. While the competition remains very intensive in certain markets and the demand in regions with high exposure to the oil sector is weaker, demand for leisure oriented routes and SAS long haul traffic is growing.

In response to the growing demand, SAS is increasing its intercontinental capacity by about 25% during the winter program through new routes and frequencies already announced. Also, until April 2016 larger aircraft will replace phased out Boeing 717 primarily in Sweden. Overall, this will result in a longer average stage length with subsequent effect on the yield/PASK and contribute to an expected scheduled capacity growth of 10-12% during the winter program. Excluding the long haul expansion the capacity growth is 3-4%. The total number of flights will however only increase by about 1%.

PASK and yield development Oct-Nov
In October 2015, SAS’ currency adjusted yield and PASK were down 4.3% and 1.3% respectively. From November 2015, SAS will report PASK and yield for the same month as the reported traffic development as shown in the table on the right.

SAS scheduled traffic development in November  SAS increased its scheduled capacity in November by 9.8%. The traffic responded well and increased by 9.6%, primarily driven by growth on intercontinental routes. The overall load factor declined marginally by 0.2 p.u. to 69.3% mainly due to lower load factors on certain European routes.

SAS intercontinental capacity was increased 19.2% and the traffic grew 19.6%. The growth was driven by the new route between Stockholm and Hong Kong and more frequencies on existing routes. On European/ Intrascandinavian routes, capacity was increased by 6.9%. Traffic grew well, but did not match the capacity growth primarily in the Belgian and UK/Irish market. Demand continued to be strongest on leisure routes and on routes to/from Sweden. Domestic traffic was up 2.9%, and capacity was increased 3%.