The Nordic airline SAS on Monday presented its new plan for economic restructuring, including fresh credit guaranteed by the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish governments.
The three states own altogether 50 per cent of the airline, and the plan must be approved by the three parliaments as well as the SAS unions before it becomes effective, SAS reports.
The plan includes the cut of 1000 jobs, and reduced pay by 15 per cent for the rest, Norwegian media report.
They also report that SAS will sell its Norwegian daughter airline Widerøe, which covers domestic short haul destinations, as well as its service company SAS Ground Handling.
SAS says in a press release that -
-This plan will give SAS a fresh start and will create a completely new platform for the future. It is a profound plan that demands a lot from the entire organisation, but that needs to be implemented to allow the company to adapt to the current market conditions. It will enable SAS to compete effectively in the expanding private travel market, while retaining its strong position in the important business travel market. SAS will therefore be able to continue to offer its 27 million passengers a superior network and competitive travel services.
-This plan will ensure that the conditions in all of the collective agreements are fully in line with the market, it will eliminate complexity by centralising and reducing administration, and it will make SAS more flexible by outsourcing more work to external suppliers.
SAS's banks and main shareholders have given this plan their full support and will make credit available to SAS on equal terms. However, this support is conditional upon SAS delivering fully to this plan and upon the new collective agreements being signed in a very short space of time.
-The plan will result in total annual savings of around SEK 3 billion and will also see some of SAS's assets being sold at a value of around SEK 3 billion. This will make SAS less dependent on external lenders in the future.
-The Board has given its unanimous support to this plan and recommends that all of the company's employees support it as well. The Board will meet again on Sunday November 18, 2012 to decide if the conditions for the implementation of the plan exist.
"This truly is our 'final call' if there is to be a SAS in the future. We have been given this final chance to make a fresh start and to carry on these fundamental changes. I know that we are asking a lot of our employees, but there is no other way. I hope that our loyal and dedicated employees are willing to fight for the survival of SAS and for our jobs. If we do this, we will be able to invest in new aircraft in the long term and to further develop our operations. This will ensure that SAS will continue to play an important role for millions of people in Scandinavia in the future," says Rickard Gustafson, President and CEO of SAS.
(NRK/Aftenposten/Press release)
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