Type
Internal restructuring
Country
Sweden
Region
Location of affected unit(s)
Sector
Transportation / Storage
Land, Water And Air Transportation
Air Transport
51.1 - Passenger air transport

2,020 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
7 April 2020
Employment effect (start)
Foreseen end date

Description

SAS, the Scandinavian and Swedish-based airline company, dismissed 120 employees in the country because of COVID-19 pandemic and the consequential travel restrictions. 

Updated 28/04/2020: The company has also temporarily suspended from work more than 10,000 employees in Scandinavia and is planning to operate up to 5,000 job cuts in next months, 1,900 of them allocated in Sweden. 

According to the company, this internal restructuring is justified by the significant decrease of the volume of passengers, dropped by 45% in March in comparison to the previous year, and to the risk not to return to before-crisis levels of demand, in the sector, until 2022. Although Denmark, Sweden and Norway have given credit guarantees for the company, this restructuring is needed as these credits are not going to cover the loss of revenue, especially if the COVID-19 pandemic continues for long.

SAS is an airline holding company, serving 128 international destinations in 37 countries.  

Update 15/07/2020: Negotiations with the trade union for pilots have been concluded at the end of June 2020. SAS is dismissing 230 pilots located in Sweden. In total 560 pilots working for SAS will lose their jobs in Scandinavia. These dismissals are part of the notice of redudancy that was given in April 2020. 


Sources

Citation

Eurofound (2020), SAS , Internal restructuring in Sweden, factsheet number 100371, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/100371.