SAS second-quarter loss more than doubles as pilot strike weighs

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Scandinavian airline SAS reported a big rise in second-quarter pretax losses on Tuesday as costs for a pilot strike weighed.

The company's pretax loss was 1.22 billion Swedish crowns (£100.50 million) in the February-April period, against a year-ago 488 million loss, and a mean forecast in a Reuters survey of three analysts of an 808 million loss.

SAS estimated the impact from the strike at 650 million crowns, of which 430 millions for the last five days of the second quarter.

SAS has earlier guided for a positive result before tax for the full year but on Tuesday it said it would be challenging to reach that.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; editing by Johannes Hellström)