Airlines in a Crisis

Scandinavian Airline Systems have 3 types of long haul aircraft, 2 types of regional and no less than 6 types of short haul medium size aircraf in their fleets. I know SAS has historically been able to sell used aircraft for more than they bought them due to being early on new types and moving on quickly, but that is many years ago now. Low cost competitors have gone for single type and big orders. Ryanair 's fleet of 340 aircraft are all Boeing 737-800's. Even though SAS is a full service (somewhat) network airline of the hub and spoke model a certain reduction in fleet disparity can only be good. Who these days adjust the aircraft used exactly to load instead of adjusting price to fill the seats available.   Let's take long haul first. A330, A340 and A350. Simple choice. Everybody is getting writh of the 4 engine A340. And SAS have now got the last out of operation. If the market is light and SAS could ramp up cargo maybe a couple of cargo conversions could have been in o...

The numbers SAS released in December 2020 reveal only 3/5 cargo income in 2020 compared to 2019. That is 700 million lost and probably a lot more since the potential has shot up.  This is leading one to believe SAS could have done a lot more and that the company haven't taken advantage of what ever they could make money on in the pandemic market. Using the assets they are locked into and are paying for. And this failure of flexibility is ultimately the fault of the CEO Gustafson.  Lack of aggressive local suppliers could be the reason Middle Eastern carriers now is moving into the Scandinavian Cargo market. And once they are in they could be difficult to dislocate. Remember exporters are not as sentimental with what airline they pick as local politicians with their travel expenses refunded by the taxpayer, ref some mayors boycott of Wizz.  One can also see from the numbers how having the actual flying of ones regional network outsourced lead to lack of flexibility in time...

Gustafson in SAS has taken his hat and gone, to a different kind of business all together.  He has been controversial in recent years, How he received significant bonuses after getting other employes to reduce their renumeration packages in recent crisis did not help SAS when pilots went on strike a couple of years ago.  Maybe his greed got the better of him and he foresaw that for the coming years his performance bonuses would not mount up to much. Specially since most airline have negotiated multiyear CoVid19 reductions in the pay of staff and therefore will have problems restoring senior managment perks faster or significantly higher in this period. His share options and other renumeration schemes is also probably solidly underwater after the refinancing SAS went through in 2020. Resulting in any financial loss by leaving would be minimized.   What should SAS look for in their next leader.  First someone who can him/herself show moderation and not only demand...