Anko van der Werff made the comments after SAS, which is grappling to exit bankruptcy protection, posted a narrower pretax loss for its fiscal first quarter.
"We still see a rebound in long-haul travel, and corporate is still down versus 2019, but what remains strong is leisure," van der Werff said in an interview.
A post-COVID travel boom is the big hope for SAS, which entered bankruptcy protection in 2022 after years of struggling with high costs were compounded by the pandemic plunge in demand. It plans to emerge from the process in the coming months with new owners that include Air France-KLM.
However, airport fees, fuel jet prices and maintenance costs still pose challenges. Rival Lufthansa on Thursday also flagged the impact of high costs.
Jet fuel prices, which have put a strain on the sector's finances for several quarters, were down in SAS's November-January first quarter, but van der Werff saw little cause for cheer.
"It's still at about $83 right now, if you convert that with the low kronor then you are almost talking about an all-time high for us in fuel prices, so it's a challenge," he said.
In January, SAS said it expected adjusted earnings before tax of between zero and 1.0 billion Swedish crowns ($97 million)for its 2024 financial year, with revenue exceeding 48 billion crowns.
For its first quarter of November-January, the airline posted a pretax loss of 1.07 billion Swedish crowns versus a 2.45 billion loss a year earlier.
Nordic rival Norwegian Air said in February it expected its profit to hit a new record in 2024, only a few years after the airline itself underwent a comprehensive financial restructuring.
SAS's shares, which will become worthless after the bankruptcy proceedings are finished, were down nearly 22% at 0853 GMT. The company plans to delist shortly.
($1 = 10.2828 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Marie MannesEditing by Essi Lehto and Mark Potter)
By Marie Mannes
