SAS to buy up to 40 Airbus A330 aircraft for over $10 billion
“The investment consists of up to 40 Airbus wide-body aircraft, combining new Airbus A330-900neo aircraft with additional Airbus A330-300 aircraft secured to support short-term growth ahead of the arrival of the new fleet,” SAS said in a statement. he said.
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It was stated that the total list price of the new aircraft is over $10 billion and that this investment will “support the continued development of SAS’s long-distance network.”
“This is the largest investment in the history of our company and a clear sign of our confidence in the future,” chief executive officer Anko van der Werff said in a statement.
After years of financial struggles, due in part to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on travel, the airline was placed under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2022 and launched a major cost-cutting plan.
Air France-KLM, which has a 19.9 percent stake in SAS, announced last year that it had initiated transactions to acquire a majority stake in the airline and aimed to acquire a 60.5 percent share.Read more: CEOs are getting ruthless about employee performance
The latest order follows an agreement last year to purchase up to 55 aircraft from Brazilian manufacturer Embraer, expected to be delivered in 2027 and used mostly on routes in the Nordic region.
On Tuesday, the company also presented an economic analysis showing that an additional 25,000 jobs would be supported in Denmark by 2030, as well as around 4,000 jobs in southern Sweden, if the company’s planned expansion comes true.
