The carrier will temporarily halt “most traffic” from Monday (16 March) “until there are conditions to conduct commercial aviation”.
“The demand for international air travel is essentially non-existent,” said SAS in an update on its response to the coronavirus crisis.
SAS said it would work with local and national authorities to repatriate stranded citizens or maintain important societal infrastructure.
On its staffing reductions, SAS added: “SAS is forced to [impose] temporary work reductions which comprises up to 10,000 employees, which is equivalent to 90 percent of the total workforce.
“The reductions will be implemented through all parts of the operation, according to national regulations.”
It comes after Norwegian said it was temporarily laying off more than half of its workforce owing to the impact on operations from the spread of the coronavirus.
