STOCKHOLM, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Scandinavian airline group SAS said Tuesday it will expand its cost savings program to cover a big loss last year.
The new cost-cutting measures include saving an additional 2 billion kronor (about 271 million U.S. dollars) and about 700 jobs cuts this year and in 2011, the group said in a statement.
It meant the cost savings program launched last February will be expanded to total of 7.3 billion kronor (about 989 million dollars) and the job cuts will amount 3,700, the statement added.
The SAS group also announced a rights issue totaling approximately 5 billion kronor (about 677 million dollars) to strengthen its liquidity position and to provide support for the implementation of the cost savings program.
"The weak economic trend in 2009 has left a serious impact on SAS's passenger volumes and yield and, accordingly, revenue, which consequently had adversely affected SAS's liquidity," SAS President and CEO Mats Jansson said in a statement.
The Stockholm-based group posted a net loss of 2.9 billion kronor (about 393 million dollars) last year while the operating revenue fell from 52.8 billion kronor (about 7.1 billion dollars) in 2008 to 44.9 billion kronor (about 6 billion dollars) in 2009.
The group flew 24.9 million passengers in 2009, 14.1 percent less than in 2008.
SAS is 50 percent owned by the governments of Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
