Reinforced travel restrictions led to reduced demand and capacity in November
In the month of November 331,000 passengers flew with SAS, a decline by 86% year over year and 45% compared to the previous month. At the same time SAS reduced its capacity by 75% compared to last year and by 20% compared to October.
The load factor came in at 25.3%, down some 45 percentage points (p.p) compared to last year and 13 p.p. compared to October. The decline in number of passengers and load factor was driven by the accelerated number of reported COVID-19 cases across Europe, resulting in renewed travel restrictions followed by a significant drop in demand, also for domestic travel.
In addition, there was an increased number of no-show passengers in November, impacting the load factor negatively versus the previous month. Furthermore, as SAS gradually reduced its European and Scandinavian capacity, intercontinental traffic sustained by cargo revenues, have a larger proportional share of the reported load factor, and thus impacting comparison with the previous month negatively.
“The sharp increase in the number COVID-19 cases, reintroduced travel restrictions and recommendations for social distancing, instantly impacted overall demand and willingness to travel. Even though SAS quickly responded by reducing offered capacity, unavoidable lead time from implemented crew rosters and adherence to local furlough schemes, unfortunately created some unbalance between capacity and demand during the month. However, entering into December, we have made further adjustments to adapt our capacity with available demand for Scandinavian connectivity,” says Rickard Gustafson, CEO SAS.
| SAS scheduled traffic | Nov20 | Change1 |
| ASK (Mill.) | 1 001 | -73.9% |
| RPK (Mill.) | 252 | -90.6% |
| Passenger load factor | 25.1% | -44.3 p u |
| No. of passengers (000) | 330 | -85.7% |
| Geographical development, schedule | Nov20 vs. Nov19 | |
| RPK | ASK | |
| Intercontinental | -97.1% | -80.8% |
| Europe/Intrascandinavia | -92.6% | -84.9% |
| Domestic | -72.3% | -36.0% |
| SAS charter traffic | Nov20 | Change1 |
| ASK (Mill.) | 8 | -95.3% |
| RPK (Mill.) | 3 | -98.0% |
| Load factor | 39.3% | -54.1 p u |
| No. of passengers (000) | 1 | -97.7% |
| SAS total traffic (scheduled and charter) | Nov20 | Change1 |
| ASK (Mill.) | 1 009 | -74.8% |
| RPK (Mill.) | 255 | -91.0% |
| Load factor | 25.3% | -45.2 p u |
| No. of passengers (000) | 331 | -86.0% |
1 Change compared to same period last year. p u = percentage units
| Preliminary yield and PASK | Nov20 | Nominal change | FX adjusted change |
| Yield, SEK | 1,65 | 57,6% | 64,7% |
| PASK, SEK | 0,41 | -43,0% | -40,4% |
| Nov20 | |||
| Punctuality (arrival 15 min) | 94.6% | ||
| Regularity | 98.4% | ||
| Change in total CO2 emissions, rolling 12 months | -63.1% | ||
| Change in CO2 emissions per available seat kilometer | -6.0% | ||
| Carbon offsetting of passenger related emissions | 32% |
Definitions:
RPK – Revenue passenger kilometers
ASK – Available seat kilometers
Load factor – RPK/ASK
Yield – Passenger revenues/RPK (scheduled)
PASK – Passenger revenues/ASK (scheduled)
Change in CO2 emissions per available seat kilometers – SAS passenger related carbon emissions divided with total available seat kilometers (incl. non-revenue and EuroBonus), rolling 12 months
Carbon offsetting of passenger related emissions – Share of SAS passenger related carbon emissions compensated by SAS (EuroBonus members, youth tickets and SAS’ staff travel)
From fiscal year 2020 we report change in CO2 emissions in total and per Available Seat Kilometers (ASK) to align with our overall goal to reduce our total CO2 emissions by 25% by 2025, compared to 2005.
December 7, 2020 11:00