SAS edged back into profit in the year to October following a ‘vigorous’ restructuring plan.
Net income of 179 million Swedish krona (Sek) was reported for the 12 months against a loss of more then Sek 3 billion the previous year.
The turnaround in financial fortunes came against a backdrop of intensified competition and weak economic growth in the fourth quarter, according to CEO Rickard Gustafson.
But he warned that the journey towards long term profitability had only just begun.
He said: “The results are evidence that our established strategy has started to improve our competitiveness. We have increased productivity and the unit cost, excluding jet fuel, fell 5.9% during the year.
“We have made substantial progress in strengthening our financial position and divested assets with a total value of about SEK 2.8 billion during the year.
“Our current focus is on completing the change programme to obtain a more flexible cost structure, in parallel with our continued aggressive investment in our offering to the target group – frequent flyers – through measures including the renewal of both the short and long-haul fleets as well as the launch of 43 new routes in 2014.”
However he warned that financial targets expected to be reached in 2014/2015 will not now be reached until 2015/2016.
The Scandinavian airline group took a “crucial strategic step” towards further increasing its operational flexibility through the sale of 10% of SAS Ground Handling to Swissport.
This paves the way for complete outsourcing of SAS ground handling and forwarding services in Scandinavia in the future.
SAS has cut 1,000 jobs as part of a centralisation of administration roles it also sold subsidiary Widerøe in September was completed, which contributed to reducing the group’s debt.
“The past year has been extremely intense,” said Gustafson. “Through the solid commitment and hard work of all employees, SAS has now delivered, in line with targets, positive earnings for the full year.
“Despite the above, we are all aware that the journey toward a long-term profitable SAS has only just begun.”