Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) is making an impressive turnaround, being among the Europe’s most on-time airlines, securing its spot just behind Iberia. SAS earned its spot as Europe’s third-most on-time airline as well as achieving a top-ten position in the global on-time category, according to 2024 Cirium’s On-Time Performance Review. Therefore, 2024 was a year of growth for SAS.
A Year of Growth for SAS and More!
One of the biggest signals for the success of SAS’s strategy is the airline’s remarkable discipline in airport operations in 2024. The airline managed to achieve an impressive cancellation rate of less than 1%, which is significantly lower than the industry average of 1.6%.
There were less than 150 cancellations out of 16,026 scheduled flights. In addition to staggering cancelled flight rates, SAS achieved an 81.20% on-time arrival rate with 79.43% on-time departures.
SAS ranks as the third most on-time airline in Europe, trailing only Iberia Express and Iberia. In the global top-ten category, SAS gained a top-ten slot. It was slotted in 9th place in front of United Airlines and behind Iberia with a small difference.
What Contributed to This Success?
In 2021, SAS welcomed Anko Van Der Werff as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The new CEO had plans for a change. Van Der Werff’s new plan, “SAS Forward,” mainly focused on finding ways to save money. The strategy aimed to increase sustainability by cutting costs, negotiating new labour agreements, exploring additional revenue opportunities through secondary sales, among other measures. Additionally, the airline invested in digital transformation as well as launching new routes such as Copenhagen to Bangkok. Finally, the heavy focus on punctuality and reliability set the new standards for SAS.
The change in CEO occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic when the airline was not doing very well in overall revenue and profit growth. According to ch-aviation results, the airline closed 2021 with 7,380,000 passengers, which shows -39.44% passenger revenue growth and -40.07% decrease in passenger growth. However, these numbers suddenly changed positively in 2022 and 2023 and continue to grow.
In 2022, SAS carried a total of 17,029,000 passengers, with 183.76% passenger revenue growth and a 90.68% increase in passenger growth compared to 2021. In 2023, the total number of passengers carried increased to 22,726,000. This represents a 33.45% increase in passenger growth compared to 2022. The new strategy of Van Der Werff is working perfectly, as statistics show, and it is forecasted to grow even further in the future.
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