By Anne-Marie Leilaani on 2024-09-27
XFly’s official comment on the cancellation of flights on Swedish domestic routes on behalf of SAS
On 25th of September, 2024, the Swedish media published reports on the cancellations of SAS flights between Stockholm and Swedish airports of Sundsvall-Timra, Ronneby and Ängelholm.
According to Swedish media reports, it is stated that Xfly, the current ACMI operator of these routes, is “using a clause in the agreement with SAS that allows them to stop flying as early as November. This means that SAS will face an aircraft shortage until the end of the year when BRA takes over the operations.”
The abovementioned reference is factually incorrect. Regional Jet OÜ, the company operating those routes under XFly [hereon further Xfly] brand, has not taken any steps to proactively stop servicing the aforementioned routes.
We hereby confirm that Xfly is willing and able to continue operations to these airports and transport passengers who have purchased tickets and have every just expectation to fulfill their travels on behalf of SAS, based on market terms, should SAS decide to continue.
We would like to emphasize that Xfly has demonstrated exceptional operational performance on the route it has served for SAS. From June to September 2024, the regularity rate has been 99.2%, which is an excellent performance and exceeds the industry average.
As recent as 19 September, SAS and Xfly agreed on the operating schedule for the routes served by Xfly for the month of November 2024.
On September 25, 2024, SAS officially informed Regonal Jet OÜ about terminating the Long Term Wet Lease Agreement and Short Term Wet Lease Agreement, upon which XFly serviced the routes.
The termination of these contracts is expected to reduce the frequency of SAS operations on the TLL-ARN route, with initial indications suggesting a potential 50% decrease, from current 6 daily frequencies on weekdays to as few as only 2.
Regional Jet OÜ and its parent company Nordic Aviation Group have undertaken the task to critically assess the current situation and the companies are looking for options in the ACMI market to find operational use for our aircraft and crews.
