SAS launches new long-haul routes - from Scandinavia to Los Angeles and Miami

Stockholm-Los Angeles

The Stockholm - Los Angeles route will start March 14, 2016, and will be operated with daily departures during the summer and 5-6 weekly departures during the winter. From Stockholm, flights depart at 09.50, with flight number SK 933, and arrive in Los Angeles at 12:15. The return flight will depart from Los Angeles at 14:15, flight number SK 934, with arrival in Stockholm at 10.00. In Stockholm, the timetable is conveniently adapted to provide efficient connections to the rest of Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltic. Finnair are yet to announce which aircraft will be deployed on the route, but expectations are that it will be either an Airbus A330 or Airbus A340. In either case, it will be an aircraft with the new cabins. Rickard says that Los Angeles is in high demand as a destination, it provides a good balance between business travel and private travel, and is also a hub for their collaborative company, United Airlines, which provides customers good opportunities to fly on in the region. In addition, Los Angeles is a major cargo hub.

Oslo-Miami and Copenhagen Miami

Miami is another new destination on the SAS network, and will be operated from Oslo and Copenhagen with traffic starting in the autumn of 2016. The exact date is not yet determined. Oslo-Miami will be served by four flights per week, while Copenhagen-Miami with operate three times-weeky. The route will thus be operated from Scandinavia every day of the week. Copenhagen-Miami will operate on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with departure from Copenhagen at 09.30 and arrival in Miami at 13.50. The return flight will depart on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 15.50, with arrival in Copenhagen at 07:10. Oslo-Miami will be served on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, with departure from Oslo at 09:35 and arrival in Miami at 13.50. The return flight will go from Miami on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 15.50, with arrival in Oslo the next morning at 07:05. Rickard Gustafsson explains that SAS’ reasons for chosing Miami were a little different from Los Angeles. Although plenty of business travellers to travel to southeastern states, Florida and Miami are primarily leisure destinations. SAS sees great demand for trips to Florida, especially with the large number of cruises that leave from Miami. Moreover, it is a hub for travel to both the Caribbean and Latin America. There are, according to Rickard, also large shipping needs on the route as well as an increased interest in Americans travelling to Scandinavia. The Aircraft to be deployed to Miami is not yet confirmed but will most likely will be one of the new Airbus A330s that are being delivered in the autumn.

New route to Hong Kong and the extension of existing routes

In September, SAS will also start a new route from Stockholm to Hong Kong, and, as a result of new aircraft being delivered, will also increase routes Stockholm-New York, Stockholm-Chicago, Copenhagen-Shanghai, Copenhagen-San Francisco and Oslo-New York to daily departures.

SAS’ new Business Class

SAS's strategy for long-haul operations

Rickard stated that the new routes have been thoroughly considered and SAS' assessment is that they can operate profitably. He also explained that the efficiency improvements made in recent years enabled these additions, it is a hefty sum to launch a new route. SAS' strategy for long-haul operations is to focus on the northern hemisphere rather than Africa and South America. There is a strong belief in North America and, above all, there is a demand that exceeds the current capacity SAS offer, especially on direct routes, according to Rickard. He sees genuine long-term demand to the United States, where the hubs of many key industries and enterprises are based.

Why are not all of the long-haul routes from Copenhagen?

SAS has previously focused much of its long-haul operations from Copenhagen, but Rickard sees no problem with it being evenly distributed between the various capitals of Scandinavia and surrounding countries. In the case of Hong Kong and Los Angeles, both of which are from Stockholm, the demand was uniform across both countries. Therefore, as services to San Francisco and Shanghai depart from Copenhagen, it was a sensible complement to serve Los Angeles and Hong Kong from Stockholm. Rickard also remarked that the market has changed a lot over the past few years, many expect more direct routes than was the case a few years ago and low-cost airlines have certainly had their impact on the market. An extended interview with Rickard Gustafsson will be published in a separate article.

SAS CEO Rickard Gustafsson