Scandinavian airline SAS posts a significant loss and announces a fresh wave of job cuts.

Scandinavian airline SAS has announced the redundancies of between 1,000 to 1,500 positions as part of a new cost-cutting scheme.

The announcement made today (12 August) comes after the company reported a net loss of 1.05 billion kronor (£168 million) in the second quarter of 2009.

The cost reduction programme aims to save the airline 2bn kronor. Alongside the job cuts, SAS also seeks to cut pay by up to 20%, as well as reducing the pensions of the cabin crew and pilots.

In February this year, SAS unveiled a major cost-cutting scheme which resulted in 3,000 job losses called Core SAS.

Mats Jansson, President and CEO of SAS, said: “Measures are required to manage the unique, fierce competition in today’s highly challenging market.

“Accordingly, it is essential that we now completely close SAS’s cost gap with our competitors. This is a matter of competing on equal conditions and, ultimately, about the survival of SAS.”

SAS’s latest job cuts will reduce the workforce by up to 8%.

Commercial airlines are being hit hard during the credit crunch with many being forced to reduce flights and shrink aircraft fleets.