SAS — M&A Activity 2017

Jan 24, 2017

SAS enters agreement to sell Cimber and 11 CRJ900s

SAS enters agreement to sell Cimber and 11 CRJ900s

SAS has signed an agreement for the sale of Cimber A/S to CityJet and sale of 11

CRJ900 aircraft. The divestment is part of SAS's strategy to use strategic

partners, so-called wet lease, in smaller traffic flows and regional traffic.

When the transaction is completed as planned on January 31, 2017, CityJet will

place an order for up to ten completely new CRJ900s, which will be used in wet

lease production for SAS.

Cimber is a wholly owned Danish regional airline that SAS acquired in February

2015 with the aim of achieving more focused and flexible regional production.

Cimber has operated regional flights on behalf of SAS from the base in

Copenhagen using SAS-owned CRJ900s.

The divestment of Cimber is part of the simplification of the SAS production

platform that is aimed at larger traffic flows with a more uniform aircraft

fleet, while smaller traffic flows are managed by partners. CityJet is one of

SAS's strategic partners and already operates eight CRJ900s for SAS through wet

lease cooperation.

"The divestment of Cimber is in line with our strategy to simplify and focus on

SAS's own production platform. Thanks to synergies between CityJet and Cimber,

the production cost for Cimber production will be further reduced, creating the

conditions to maintain and develop regional routes for the benefit of SAS

customers," says Rickard Gustafson, SAS's President and CEO.

SAS has signed a new six-year wet lease agreement and will extend the current

wet lease agreement by a further three years. In total, SAS will have contracted

22 CRJ900 aircraft from CityJet with this transaction.

"This new SAS contract and growth delivered by the acquisition of Cimber Airways

advances CityJet's stated strategy of building its role as a provider of

regional jet capacity to airlines across Europe and follows our successful

inauguration of services on behalf of SAS in March 2016. We welcome the new

staff members of Cimber Airways into the CityJet family, joining the 870 current

employees, which already include almost 200 based in the Nordic region," says

Pat Byrne, CityJet's Executive Chairman.

SAS' eleven CRJ900 will be sold during the period from February 2017 till the

middle of 2017. In conjunction with the sale, an assessment of the maintenance

status of the aircraft will be made, which will be recognized as a capital gain

or loss of the aircraft. CityJet will take delivery of the ten new CRJ900s from

the second half of 2017 through the beginning of 2018, which will replace the

previous SAS CRJ900.

The divestment of Cimber and the aircraft will have a negative nonrecurring

effect on earnings of MSEK 20 during the first quarter of 2016/2017.

For further information:

SAS Press Office +46 8 797 29 44

Björn Tibell, Head of Investor Relations, +46 70 997 1437

This information is information that SAS AB is obliged to disclose pursuant to

the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication,

through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 09.00 a.m. CET on

January 24, 2017.