Scandinavian airline SAS reported a third-quarter pretax profit below expectations on Tuesday and lowered its outlook slightly due to worsening economic conditions.

Half-owned by Sweden, Denmark and Norway, SAS has been struggling for years with high costs and fierce competition from no-frills rivals such as Norwegian Air and Ryanair .

The global downturn in 2009 and soaring jet fuel prices in recent years have added to its troubles, though a series of restructuring packages has made the airline much more competitive in recent quarters.

Now, the global outlook is darkening again and though the airline stuck by its goal of a pretax profit this year, it said the situation was now tougher.

"On condition that nothing unexpected occurs, it is our opinion that there is still the potential for SAS to achieve marginally positive income before tax for full-year 2011," the airline said in a statement.

Previously, SAS had not said profit would be marginal at best in 2011, only that it believed it would make a profit.

SAS CEO Rickard Gustafson said jet-fuel costs, competition and global economic developments, particularly in Spain where SAS still owns a stake in Spanair, were behind the new caution.

Year-to-date, SAS's pretax profit is 448 million crowns, implying the final quarter of the year will be poor.

The airline made a pretax profit of 276 million crowns (US$42 million) in the third quarter against a forecast of 369 million crowns in a Reuters poll and a loss of 1.0 billion crowns a year earlier.