SAS posts first full-year profit since 2007

Scandinavian airline SAS reported its first full-year profit ending October since 2007 on Thursday, thanks to lower costs and despite the increasing pressure on flight ticket prices.

The net profit of 178 million kronor (20 million euros, $27 million) contrasts with 3.01 billion in losses one year earlier and revenue fell by 0.5 percent to 42.182 billion kronor.

"As a result of the vigorous measures implemented under the change programme, the weaker income trend could be partially offset by lower costs," the company said in a statement.

SAS launched a drastic cost-cutting programme in the beginning of the fiscal year including asset sales and salary reductions.

"We are glad to announce that SAS is now delivering on the promises of a positive result for the full fiscal year," the company said on Twitter.

The airline highlighted its positive fourth quarter results - a 352 million kronor profit compared to the 574 million kronor losses a year earlier - despite "a weak economic trend and intensified competition".

The revenue for the period was almost unchanged at 11.059 billion kronor.

The short-term outlook remains challenging for the company.

"The weaker conditions are expected to continue and, as usual, due to seasonality, the first quarter of 2013/2014 (November-January), will be extremely weak," SAS said.

The asset sales behind the company's profit could hardly be repeated in the future and the airline now believes that "the financial targets expected to be reached in 2014/2015 will not now be reached until 2015/2016".

The group sold 80 percent of Norwegian regional airline Wideroee to Norwegian investors for two million kroner (230 million euros, $311 million) in September, and in November sold 10 percent of its ground handling to Swiss specialist Swissport for an undisclosed figure.

In 2014, the airline expects to open 43 new routes.

50 percent of SAS is owned by the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish states, which have expressed their interest in selling their share if a good opportunity arises.

Last September, Germany's Lufthansa chief executive Christoph Franz said that he "could consider" a possible SAS buyout.

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Boeing confident it will soon fix 787 Dreamliner problems

Boeing has told a Scandinavian airline that it is confident that it will soon fix the battery problems that have grounded its 787 Dreamliner aircraft, the chief executive of Norwegian Air Shuttle said on Tuesday.

Norwegian Air Shuttle is among a number of carriers to have ordered the hi-tech jet and is expecting delivery in April.

Delivery of all 850 planes ordered have been halted and the 50 jets in service have been grounded while authorities review the 787's design following issues with the plane's lithium-ion batteries.

Boeing has told Norwegian Air Shuttle, a budget carrier, to expect its first 787 Dreamliner in April in line with the latest delivery schedule, chief executive Bjorn Kjos told Reuters. "They will definitely fix the battery problems long before then," he said. "They say it is going to be fixed soon; they have a plan. They say it will be delivered according to the schedule," he told reporters at the Airline Economics conference in Dublin.

Boeing declined to comment on Kjos's comments but in a statement, the company said: "Boeing will not deliver 787s until the FAA approves a means of compliance with their recent airworthiness directive concerning batteries and the approved approach has been implemented.

"Boeing continues to assist government agencies in the US and Japan responsible for investigating two recent 787 incidents. The company has formed teams consisting of hundreds of engineering and technical experts who are working around the clock with the sole focus of resolving the issue and returning the 787 fleet to flight status. We are working this issue tirelessly in cooperation with our customers and the appropriate regulatory and investigative authorities."

Kjos's confidence is in contrast to many airline experts who see the Dreamliner crisis deepening. Mary Schiavo, former inspector general of the Department of Transport, told The Guardian On Monday that a quick fix looked increasingly unlikely.

Schiavo, who now leads the aviation team at attorney Motley Rice, said it could be months before the issues besetting the Dreamliner are settled.

US and Japanese officials are now investigating what went wrong with two lithium-ion batteries made by Japan's GS Yuasa. On Tuesday US investigators began talking to Securaplane Technologies, the Arizona company that made the batteries' chargers.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is co-ordinating the US inquiry, is expected to release an updated report into the 787 battery fire as early as this week.

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April? An assurance or a guarantee by Boeing? There is still some way to go in the investigations and it seems that they're still clueless about the problem. Even if the problem has been resolved, more testing will be needed to prove that it will not happen again.

It isn't as simple as it seems. Do not compromise on safety to keep to your promises.