SAS president expects to open more long-haul routes – Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet

SAS president expects to open more long-haul routes – Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet

SAS has decided that from September to open a new long-haul route from Stockholm to Hong Kong. Why the choice fell precisely on Hong Kong?

– We have seen a need to strengthen Sweden and Scandinavia contact with Asia and many companies we have been in contact with have said the same thing. There are also good flows of passengers there and next year we get our first A330 Enhanced (a new plane from the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus) that is well suited for this route, says SAS CEO Rickard Gustafson.

Hong Kong is a major business destination. But it’s tourist travel that is growing the most. Can you get enough more leisure passengers on a route to Hong Kong?

– We’ll only look at the lines where we can get a good mix of tourist and business travelers. Previously, we closed the line to Bangkok as it was not enough business to fill the seats in business class. The plane we started to fly to San Francisco in place and there we profitability directly. We anticipate that it will be a good mix also to Hong Kong, not least of which is easy to fly from there.

You’ve orders for more new long-haul aircraft. What new direct routes will you open?

– We are looking at more destinations in Asia and in North America, particularly the US west coast. The flights can walk from Stockholm, Oslo or Copenhagen.

While you should implement a new comprehensive savings and refer to it new dynamics of the airline market. Staff are employed by staffing companies, operations moved out and Employment deteriorate. Is the old model that makes the most within the company on its way out?

– A lot has happened in the airline industry and we conclude that there are new standards that apply. Our industry is a lågmarginalindustri and you should get by there then you have to constantly streamline, says Rickard Gustafson.

You’ve saved so much already, dryers staff really more and how much you must save before you are competitive?

– There is a great fighting spirit in the SAS and we have managed to save while we get more passengers and has a world-class punctuality. Now we have good discussions with union representatives on how we should proceed because it is quite clear that SAS must cut costs more. But I do not want to give any concrete figures for how much more we need to cut costs, it’s also a bit of a moving target.