SAS expects to emerge from Chapter 11 process by June, CEO says

Airline SAS AB is set to complete its US Chapter 11 process by June following expected regulatory approvals in Europe, according to Chief Executive Officer Anko van der Werff.

That means the process is going according to plan, the CEO said in an interview on Thursday after posting fourth-quarter earnings that saw its adjusted pretax loss widen 30% year-on-year.

The Scandinavian carrier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2022, and in October reached a $1.2 billion refinancing deal with a group of investors including Air France-KLM and Castlelake. A bankruptcy court in New York signed off on the financing earlier this month.

If SAS was an American company, it would likely have emerged from the Chapter 11 process in February, van der Werff said by phone.

“But we also have to go through a Swedish reorganization, which we’ll do straight after in February or March, and then we’ll have to wait for regulatory approval from the European Commission. So all in all, I expect it to take until June or so,” the CEO said.

The €833 million ($915 million) in Danish and Swedish state aid from 2020 was approved by European Union state-aid watchdogs Wednesday, after an earlier approval was struck down by an EU court. The decision was expected by SAS, van der Werff said, adding that “everything is on track, really” in terms of the regulatory processes.