The Corona pandemic has led the aviation industry in a crisis of rarely seen kind. Usually, SAS has an average of 800 flights a day, but during several months of the crisis, almost the entire flight attendant fleet was on the ground. Something that has led to a flood of repayment cases.

Exactly how many travelers who demanded the money back are still unclear, but so far SAS has repaid around 700,000 people. More than 30 percent of them have chosen to receive a refund in vouchers.

Karin Nyman, communications director at SAS, calls the situation the most extreme in the company's 74-year history.

- This is something that we have not at all been prepared for or had systems or processes to handle. It is unparalleled in our history.

Inserts extra resources

All customers who are entitled to repayment will receive their money, assures Karin Nyman. However, it is highly unclear when. A large proportion of the cases are handled manually, a process the company is now trying to automate.

- We have invested extra resources and this is a top priority for the company. But there will be those who have to wait for several more months, says Karin Nyman.

Nyman has no information about how many thousands of travelers it is about.

- But we really regret that we are not able to pay back faster than we do.

The note for Norwegian: 3.5 million Norwegian kronor

Norwegian airline has so far repaid over SEK 3.5 billion to travelers affected by canceled flights during the corona pandemic, writes Charlotte Holmbergh Jacobsson, communications manager at Norwegian, in a comment to SVT News.

What the bill has landed on so far for SAS's part, Karin Nyman does not want to comment.

"But that's a lot of money," Karin Nyman says.

The company is now reviewing its procedures to be better equipped for upcoming crises.

- The automation of the repayments is one of the measures to be able to handle very large volumes faster.