schema:articleBody
| - Sweden and Denmark said Tuesday they would provide more than 275 million euros in guarantees to protect airline SAS from the economic impact of the new coronavirus crisis. Rival Norwegian Air quickly requested similar aid. Copenhagen and Stockholm are to provide state-backed credit guarantees so SAS can borrow money from commercial banks, a statement said. The governments are to each provide 1.5 billion Swedish kronor ($151.2 million or 137.7 million euros) in credit guarantees to the Scandinavian carrier, which like many airlines is suffering from a sharp drop in demand following the outbreak of COVID-19. "SAS is of great importance for both the accessibility of Scandinavia and Denmark. It also extends to jobs, businesses and the economy as a whole," Danish Finance Minister Nicolas Wammen said in the statement. Sweden and Denmark are SAS' two largest shareholders. Following the announcement, low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle asked the government in Oslo to extend aid similar to what its "biggest competitor" was to receive. "Norwegian is a Norwegian company that needs similar help from Norwegian authorities in order to safeguard Norwegian workplaces, infrastructure and value creation," chief executive Jacob Schram said in a statement. On Sunday, SAS said it was grounding most of its planes until conditions were appropriate once again for commercial aviation. The company said this also meant temporary work reductions for 10,000 employees, "equivalent to 90 percent of the total workforce." Norwegian Air said Monday it was cancelling 85 percent of its flights and was temporarily laying off around 7,300 staff. The Swedish government has announced another 3.5 billion kronor in credit guarantees for other airlines, including those with regular domestic flights and speciality operators, such as those which provide medical flights. jll/wai
|