Airline SAS to cut up to 4,000 jobs -TV = = = = Wednesday April 9, 5:44 PM EDT = STOCKHOLM, April 9 (Reuters) - Loss-making Scandinavian flag carrier SAS = (SAS) may be about to cut up to 4,000 jobs, or more than 11 percent of it= s workforce, in a drive to return to profit, Swedish TV4 television news = reported on Wednesday, quoting trade union sources. The management of SAS, half-owned by the governments of Sweden, Denmark a= nd Norway, is scheduled to propose new savings to the board of directors = on Thursday before the annual general meeting later in the day. TV4 said SAS's management and leaders of the various trade unions represe= nting the group's 35,000 employees had been holding talks on the planned = cost cuts on Wednesday. The pilots of SAS, which is part of the Star Alliance grouping of airline= s led by German carrier Lufthansa, had agreed to pay cuts of 2.5 percent = as well as longer working hours, TV4 said. = Like most other airlines, SAS's revenues and earnings have suffered in re= cent years from the global economic slowdown. International air traffic dropped sharply after the September 11 attacks = in the United States, and recently the war in Iraq and the SARS virus spr= eading in Asia have dealt new blows to the industry. SAS's passenger traffic fell 4.5 percent year-on-year in March and only s= ix of every 10 seats in its aircraft were filled. SAS said earlier this year that the group's flagship business, Scandinavi= an Airlines, would have to cut unit costs by 25-40 percent. = =A92003 Reuters Limited. = Roger EWROPS