Articles tagged “sas”

The years-long business transformation at Scandinavia's SAS could be derailed unless the airline can pry more costs out its operations. If it can't CEO Anko Van der Werff is threatening the European equivalent of bankruptcy protection.

SAS is confronting a radically different Scandinavian airline market now than it had at the start of the pandemic. New competition from startups like Flyr and a restructured Norwegian Air mean SAS will have to continue cutting costs in order to stay competitive.

In terms of saving the planet, the next best thing to not flying long-haul could be flying on a plane that uses sustainable fuel. Many companies are buying into this now, but it's still early days.

It's easy to feel jaded about data breaches given how often they happen. But it will raise eyebrows that hackers obtained data on loyalty flyers of Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, United, and other carriers by exploiting a SITA tech system not used by most of them.

IDeaS, which makes software to help hotel owners set their room rates, boosted its financial performance in 2020 without layoffs. But this year brings unique market conditions for its hotel customers. So a lot depends on the launch of its new service, Optix.

SAS is correct to raise the possibility that coronavirus will stick around. If the number of cases in Europe continues to rise as we head through the rest of the year, the impact on airlines in the region is only going to increase. The big caveat though, is that fuel prices are likely to remain pretty low in that scenario.

While Norwegian's decision to pull its long-haul routes out of Copenhagen and Stockholm is good news for SAS in the short term, it points to a bigger challenge in the long term.

Businesses invariably hate regulation, but sometimes it takes threats and fines to help change things for the better. Would airlines really be pushing their green credentials if consumers, governments, and the media weren't asking difficult questions?

It's easy to say that travel companies should ditch plastics to help save the environment, but this will be much harder for airlines than some other sectors.

European governments once believed they could rely on the market to ensure their links to the outside world. But many are starting to become more protective of their national airlines. In many ways, it is a return to the past.