• Mouse grounds Swedish flight to Chicago

Shares in Scandinavian airline company SAS rallied more than 25 percent Wednesday morning after the company recorded an unexpectedly big net profit for the second quarter, helped by increased capacity on its flights and cost-cutting efforts.

The airline also repeated it expected to make a profit for the full year.

The net profit of 551 million kronor ($86 million) compared to a net loss of 502 million kronor in the same quarter last year. The profit was much bigger than expected by analysts.

The second quarter 'was the strongest since 2008,' chief executive Rickard Gustafson said in a statement.

The group flew 7.3 million passengers during the quarter, up almost 18 percent year-on-year.