SAS Scandinavian Airlines is to introduce a new direct link between the capitals of Sweden and Madrid this summer as its network growth continues. The carrier is to launch a twice weekly service between Stockholm and Madrid from July 1, 2013, complementing its existing flights to Madrid from the Danish capital, Copenhagen. Following the launch, SAS will provide up to ten departures a week between Scandinavia and the Spanish city.

SAS will offer flights every Monday and Friday on the route using a Boeing 737. These will provide opportunities for four night weekday business breaks and three night weekend leisure breaks between the two cities. SAS has already begun or resumed 47 routes during the course of 2013 including links from Stockholm to Vilnius, Innsbruck, Pula, Palermo, Cagliari, Thessaloniki, Tel Aviv, Pristina and Alanya and from Gothenburg to Nice and Pristina.

“We know that many of our customers want to travel with SAS, whether they are travelling for business or pleasure.  So we're happy to offer flights between Arlanda and Madrid that are both good for business travellers who want to start their week in Madrid and other passengers who want to spend a long weekend there.”

Joakim Landholm
Chief Commercial Officer, SAS Scandinavian Airlines

"We know that many of our customers want to travel with SAS, whether they are travelling for business or pleasure,” said Joakim Landholm, Chief Commercial Officer, SAS Scandinavian Airlines. “So we're happy to offer flights between Arlanda and Madrid that are both good for business travellers who want to start their week in Madrid and other passengers who want to spend a long weekend there."

The route is not new to SAS as it previously served this market as a summer seasonal offering in 2011 with a limited schedule of flights between June and August, although it will be the sole carrier to serve the route. In recent years Spanish carriers Spanair and Iberia served the market but they ended flights in October 2009 and March 2013, respectively.

In 2012 an estimated 63,000 bi-directional O&D passengers travelled between Stockholm and Madrid although interestingly just 56.2 per cent of this total flew on the direct services of Iberia: the rest connecting via other European airports. Between 2005 and 2012 capacity on the route fell 58.4 per cent but demand slipped by a smaller amount at 39.5 per cent.