SAS Abandons Spanair Divestment

Scandinavian Airlines System has announced that, due to the challenging market conditions in the Spanish aviation market coupled with record oil prices and pressure in the financial sector, it has not been able to reach its targeted terms and conditions in the divestment of its subsidiary, Spanair.

As communicated in its 2011 strategy plan, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) was in the process of divesting Spanair. The target for the SAS Group has been to finalize this process before the end of the second quarter of 2008. Spanair will continue to be reported as a business in the SAS Group accounts.

Mats Jansson, CEO of SAS, said: “The value we could realize does not reflect the underlying value in Spanair. We have done a very thorough evaluation and have concluded that we will abandon the current sales process and continue as a shareholder committed to ensure a profitable Spanair.”