SAS Continues Long-Haul Capacity Growth

To meet increased demand for flights to USA and Asia, SAS Scandinavian Airlines is to increase the frequency of its services on the Stockholm – Chicago and Copenhagen – Shanghai routes to a daily schedule this winter. The new departures are part of a development plan at SAS to expand its long-haul flying, including the opening of further new routes.

The airline will add two weekly rotations to the five times weekly Copenhagen – Shanghai route and a single additional flight on the six times weekly Stockholm – Chicago link from the end of October this year boosting its winter flight schedule between Scandinavia and the USA to 108 weekly departures and between Scandinavia and Asia to 50 weekly departures.

“The Scandinavian market is demanding flexible travels with good schedules and frequent departures. These new departures together with our upgraded long-haul fleet and extensive network mean we have an incredibly strong service offer to both the USA and Asia that we intend to further strengthen in the near future,” said Rickard Gustafson, president and chief executive officer, SAS.

Earlier this year, SAS announced additional departures from Oslo and Stockholm to New York and from Copenhagen to San Francisco, while just last month it announced plans to expand its long haul fleet, which alongside these additional frequencies will allow further network growth.

SAS remains tight-lipped over its plans but confirmed the first phase of expansion will enable these extra flights to Shanghai and Chicago. “The full expansion plan will be announced as soon as possible,” it added.

The Scandinavian flag carrier currently offers long-haul flights from Scandinavia to New York, Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo. In September 2015, it will open a new route from Stockholm to Hong Kong.

Richard Maslen

Richard Maslen has travelled across the globe to report on developments in the aviation sector as airlines and airports have continued to evolve and…