COST CUTTING BEARS FRUIT FOR SAS

SAS reported that it had cut costs by about 23%, or 7.6 billion Swedish kronor, since 2008, and expects a further reduction of 500 million kronor in the second half of this year and 500 million kronor in 2012. The cuts has helped the airline post its best second-quarter result since 2008, swinging to a net profit of 551 million kronor for the three months to end-June, compared with a 502 million kronor loss a year earlier. Revenue also rose sharply, to 11.23 billion kronor from 9.98 billion kronor, as SAS flew 1.1 million more passengers. SAS reiterated that it