The president and CEO of SAS Group, Jörgen Lindegaard informed the Board of Directors that he intends to leave SAS in the autumn of 2006. He has headed SAS since May 2001. No successor has been appointed as yet.

“These have been five years dominated by major changes,” says Jörgen Lindegaard.

“The September 11 disaster occurred shortly after I joined SAS and it had a strong impact on travel. During these years, low-price competition has also had its real breakthrough. The first steps of the necessary savings and transformation work have now been completed.

“I want to thank all SAS employees for these years. I feel that the time is right for a new CEO to take over. For my part, I would like to take on a further challenge,” says Lindegaard.

“The members of the Board regret that Jörgen Lindegaard has chosen to leave his position,” says Egil Myklebust, Chairman of SAS Group. “Jörgen has made an outstanding contribution to our company. It is no exaggeration to say that he has had one of the most difficult CEO positions in Scandinavia. He has laid a stable foundation for the transformation with which we need to proceed.”

“Jörgen Lindegaard has implemented both far-reaching action programs and groundbreaking new activities. Naturally, it was impossible to do this without resistance, and tough measures have sometimes been necessary. As the insight was gained that air travel is subject to completely new market conditions, the respect for Jörgen’s open and direct management style has grown,” says Egil Myklebust.

Jörgen Lindegaard has a period of notice of six months. The Board has commenced the task of recruiting a new president and CEO.
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