Scandinavian Airlines gets $1.5b to survive crisis

STOCKHOLM, June 30, (AP): Scandinavian Airlines said Tuesday it is getting an aid package worth 14.25 billion kronor ($1.5 billion) after an agreement with its main shareholders, securing the carrier’s survival amid the COVID-19 crisis.

The governments of Sweden and Denmark, which own shares in the airline, were partly financing the recapitalization plan, SAS said in a statement.

The aid package was also financially supported by its third main owner, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, a Swedish public and private foundation.

The package includes issuing new shares and converting bonds into shares.

In the statement, SAS said that amid the global travel restrictions caused by the pandemic it had taken measures “to radically reduce costs as a result of the decline in demand, which is not expected to return to pre-COVID-19 levels before 2022.”

The recapitalization plan is subject to approvals by a general shareholders’ meeting and the European Commission.

Environmental activists spoke out against rescuing an industry that emits high levels of climate-warming gases like CO2.

Two protesters were removed Tuesday from an airplane at the airport of Goteborg, Sweden, after refusing to sit down as the aircraft taxied. The men, one aged 65 and the other in his 40s, were detained on suspicion of violations of the Aviation Act, police said.

One them said live on Facebook that “SAS is getting crisis aid now. That money should be given to the climate.”

On the group’s Facebook page activist Göran Boardy wrote that “during this pandemic, we have a unique opportunity to start the conversion necessary to achieve the goal of the Paris agreement (to reduce carbon emissions).”