Swedavia

Swedavia has decided to implement an action programme in order to adapt its operations in the face of a dramatic decline in passenger volume combined with uncertain market prospects. Operations in the company will be adapted to a minimal level based on the market situation, and at the bigger airports, operations will be concentrated temporarily to certain sections. At the same time, a comprehensive review of the company’s investment portfolio is being carried out.

In March, developments around the COVID-19 (coronavirus) have accelerated, entailing a sharp decrease in demand for flights. For the first two weeks of the month, the decrease in passenger volume was about 30 per cent at Swedavia’s airports, but the downturn is expected to continue as airlines carry out announced cuts to service in the weeks ahead. In recent days, the decline in passenger volume has been 70 to 90 per cent.

“We are in the midst of a social crisis of an unprecedented nature, and our most important priority now is to limit the spread of the disease and protect people’s lives and health. However, the consequences for a company that enables people to meet are dramatic, since our revenue is in principle completely variable and connected in one way or another to passenger volume. Although our financial position is good, drastic and immediate measures are now required,” says Jonas Abrahamsson, Swedavia’s president and CEO.

Operations in the company will be scaled down to a minimum based on the market situation, and operations at the bigger airports will be concentrated temporarily to certain parts of the airport. Meanwhile, a complete review of the company’s investment portfolio is being carried out.

“At the same time, we will do our utmost to safeguard our mission of providing access at all ten of our airports to meet current demand from commercial traffic and air ambulance flights,” says Jonas Abrahamsson.

As a result of these measures and to adapt the organisation to the new situation, Swedavia will lay off 1,900 out of a total of about 2,500 employees with immediate effect and until further notice.In addition, Swedavia is also giving notice that another 800 employees may be laid off.

“When the situation around COVID-19 has stabilised and demand has once again rebounded, we naturally want to be able to scale up our operations as quickly as possible and then have our fantastic employees back. However, right now, there is enormous uncertainty about future developments, and it is not possible to provide any forecasts as to the future. We therefore also need to prepare ourselves by creating room for manoeuvre as developments unfold,” Jonas Abrahamsson concludes.

For further information, please contact Swedavia’s press office at +46 10-109 01 00 or press@swedavia.se.

At an Extraordinary General Meeting of Swedavia AB held on February 13, Nina Linander was elected as a new Board member of the company.

Nina Linander is currently a Chairman of the Board of AWA Holding AB and Green Iron H2 AB and a Board member of AB Industrivärlden, Castellum AB, Telia Company AB and was formerly a Board member of Skanska AB and Specialfastigheter Sverige AB, among other companies. In addition, she worked for many years at both Electrolux and Vattenfall, where she was also a member of internal boards.

“The proposed Board member is considered to have the relevant skills, experience and background for the company’s governance, which is why the owner has proposed that the person noted above be elected by the General Meeting as a Board member,” noted Swedavia’s owner, the Swedish State, in giving its reasoning for the proposal.

Nina Linander has a master’s degree in business from Sweden as well as an MBA from IMEDE, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Swedavia’s Board of Directors now consist of eight members.

For further information, please contact Swedavia’s press office at tel. +46 010 109 01 00 or press@swedavia.se.

In 2019, more than 40 million passengers flew to or from Swedavia’s airports. Net revenue for the period increased to more than 6.2 billion Swedish kronor and operating profit increased to more than 700 million kronor. The year was marked by investments to improve efficiency, develop the airports and help bring about the aviation industry’s transformation in the face of climate change.

With volume of more than 40 million passengers, that means a decrease of more than 4 per cent compared to 2018, which is the first year since 2009 that passenger volume has decreased. This is in contrast to the trend for Europe as a whole, where passenger volume has instead continued to increase, though at a slower pace than in 2018.

“Economic growth, Sweden’s national aviation tax, and the krona’s exchange rate affect travel, while 2019 was probably also the year when the climate discussion had a greater impact on actual travel behaviour than previously,” says Jonas Abrahamsson, Swedavia’s president and CEO. “A number of airlines began to reduce seating capacity, and discontinuations were announced or carried out for a number of important intercontinental direct routes from Sweden. Reduced access means lower attractiveness and productivity for Sweden, which is a serious matter.”

For the full-year 2019, Swedavia reported net revenue of 6,235 million kronor (5,922) and operating profit of 709 million kronor (682). In the fourth quarter, net revenue increased to 1,564 million kronor (1,498) while operating profit decreased to -12 million kronor (16).

Investments to ensure airport capacity and for an improved passenger experience, property development and sustainability remain high, totalling 3,460 million kronor (3,195). After a number of years of reductions, Swedavia raised airport charges in 2019 as an important part of its funding for long-term infrastructure development at the airports.

“Despite fewer passengers and continued investments in our development programmes, return was on a par with the previous year,” says Jonas Abrahamsson. “Profit for the full year was positively affected by adjusted airport charges and increased commercial revenue combined with the efficiency improvement programme’s effect on the cost trend and capital gains in our property development operations.”

Profit was affected by restructuring costs of 81 million kronor related to the cost reduction and change programme decided in December 2018. Changes have been carried out to ensure competitiveness in the long and short term and in order to meet a changing market in the best way possible.

“In 2019, a new Group structure and organisation were implemented while cost savings were realised, and we are continuing our change work to be even more process-oriented and customer-focused,” says Jonas Abrahamsson.

Passenger satisfaction for the full year was 76 per cent, which is an increase of 2 percentage points compared to 2018.

In the Group’s climate adaptation work, three of Swedavia’s airports have already achieved the target of zero emissions of fossil carbon dioxide from their own operations, a target that all ten airports will have achieved by the end of 2020.

Swedavia also supports the aviation industry’s climate change adaptation through various measures. In conjunction with its pricing decision for 2020, Swedavia decided to give a discount to airlines that choose to refuel using renewable jet fuel through an incentive programme. Swedavia carries out a public tender each year for renewable jet fuel equivalent to the amount employees use on flights for business purposes, and in the 2019 public tender for the company’s 2020 delivery, the national emergency assistance company SOS Alarm, the alcohol retailer Systembolaget and the Swedish coalition for decarbonisation the 2030 Secretariat also took part. In 2019, Swedavia also launched the innovation cluster Fossil-Free Aviation 2045 together with other stakeholders, including the Swedish research institute RISE.

The full Year-End Report is available on Swedavia’s website: About Swedavia – Financial information.

For further information, please contact Robert Pletzin, press officer at Swedavia, or Swedavia’s press office at tel. +46 010 109 01 00 or press@swedavia.se.

This is information that Swedavia AB (publ) is required to disclose under the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the Securities Market Act. The information was provided by the contact person above for publication on February 13, 2020, at 4:00 p.m. CET.