Scandinavian airline SAS said on Monday that June passenger traffic rose 3.5 percent from a year earlier, and said its cost-cutting plan was running according to plan.
SAS said its passenger load factor fell 1.8 percentage points to 74.7 percent.
Like many other airlines, SAS has struggled to compete in recent years with cut-price rivals and overcapacity.
Now, the surging oil price is the main threat. Oil is trading near record highs at around USD$143.78 a barrel and SAS's fleet of older aircraft burn more fuel than competitors'.
Last year, SAS launched its Strategy 2011 plan aimed at boosting annual pretax profit to SEK4 billion kroner (USD$666 million).
But high fuel costs have already overtaken that and the company has launched a second round of measures, known as Profit 2008.
Among other things, SAS has raised the price of its tickets, but matching rising jet fuel prices has been difficult, meaning yields -- a measure of unit revenue -- have been falling.
"The imposed fuel surcharges are gradually supporting the yield and (are) expected to have a larger impact going forward," SAS said in a statement.
May yields, the most recent figures available, were down in line with the company's own expectations, falling 5.4 percent.
For June, SAS said it expected yields to improve from May and to be unchanged versus the same month last year.
SAS said its Profit 2008 plan which comprises both revenue enhancing and cost measures totaling SEK1.1 billion, was on track.
