SAS CEO Downplays Competition from Norwegian Air and Ryanair
Photo Credit: SAS and Norwegian Air planes at the Copenhagen Airport. (News Oresund/Flickr) Flickr / News Oresund
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SAS CEO Anko Van der Werff is confident in the airline's market position amid competitive challenges. But with the airline a while away from a full recovery, discounters have even more time to pounce.
The CEO of bankrupt Scandinavian airline SAS, Anko Van der Werff, does not see the carrier's position in the northern European market as "diminished" by recent market share grabs from the likes of Norwegian Air and Ryanair.
The discount competitors are growing in SAS' home markets: Norwegian Air in its namesake country, including with a $106 million deal to buy regional airline Wideroe; and Ryanair in Denmark with plans for a new base in Copenhagen, SAS' largest hub by flight numbers.
Van der Werff's comments came Friday after the Stockholm-based Star Alliance carrier unveiled its highest passenger numbers and first quarterly profit since 2019 in its fiscal third quarter — May, June, and July. SAS posted a $143 million (1.6 billion Swedish kroner) operating profit on $1.2 billion in revenue. Passenger numbers came in just shy of 7 million. All but the profit number were below 2019 levels.
SAS is restructuring under U.S. Chapter 11 bankr
