Blue1

Blue1 to become feeder for SAS' Copenhagen and Stockholm hubs in move against Finnair and Norwegian

SAS subsidiary Blue1 will undergo network changes that will see it drop its non-Scandianvan European routes in order to bolster services from secondary Finnish cities.

This will allow the SAS group to build greater feed into its Copenhagen Kastrup and Stockholm Arlanda hubs, a competitive move against Finnair and its Helsinki hub, as well as LCC Norwegian Air Shuttle and its Scandinavian hubs.

This development is only the first in what will be a number of changes across the group’s carriers up to 2015 under the new strategy as SAS seeks to become a more formidable force. Meanwhile low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Services continues to grow and threaten SAS’ dominance in the Nordic market.

SAS to increase leisure share under ‘4Excellence’ strategy

SAS has unveiled “4Excellence”, the group’s new strategy that replaces its successful “Core SAS” turnaround programme, which will be brought to an end in 2012. 4Excellence will build on the foundations of its predecessor by concentrating the group’s resources on four key areas: commercial, sales, operational and people excellence. SAS has staged a remarkable turnaround in recent years under the Core SAS programme, which culminated in a strong 1H2011 (six months to 30-Jun-2011) performance from the Scandinavian carrier, outperforming the majority of its rivals.

Intra-Europe traffic trends in the right direction, but outlook darkens for Europe’s carriers

European airlines continued to report positive passenger traffic results in Aug-2011, the final month of the summer peak travel period, when European airlines make the bulk of their revenue. Almost all of the major airlines reported year-on-year increases in load factor and passenger numbers, despite the increasingly worrying economic backdrop affecting business and consumer confidence across the region. If such uncertainty continues, European carriers may be in for a bumpy end to 2011.

SAS has best quarter in three years; set for annual profit

SAS Group delivered an unexpectedly strong result second-quarter result, reporting net income of EUR60 million which saw the group finish the first half in the black, in sharp contrast to some of its full-service rivals to the south. The result is a significant turnaround for SAS and is even more remarkable in light of the various challenges faced by European airlines. Its profitability may finally make it an attractive acquisition or merger partner.

European airlines post healthy traffic gains in Jul-2010. Will the summer be strong enough?

European airlines have been quite liberal with their capacity in 2011, even in the face of economic uncertainty and high fuel prices. The trend continued this summer and carriers have, on the whole, enjoyed strong traffic and load factor gains. But will it convert into profitability?