SAS has just announced a major adjustment to one of their US routes.
SAS Drops Los Angeles to Stockholm In Favor Of Los Angeles To Copenhagen
SAS has been flying between Los Angeles and Stockholm for several years now, though that particular route is being canceled.
SAS has announced that they’ll fly nonstop between Los Angeles and Copenhagen as of January 13, 2020, at the expense of their Los Angeles to Stockholm flight.
The new flight will operate with the following schedule:
SK931 Copenhagen to Los Angeles departing 9:35AM arriving 12:15PM
SK932 Los Angeles to Copenhagen departing 2:00PM arriving 10:10AM (+1 day)
As SAS’ EVP of Commercial describes this change:
“By opening a year-round route to Los Angeles from Copenhagen we are increasing availability and enabling growth. The timetable is attractive, and thanks to the economies of scale we can achieve in fully utilizing our fleet, we are in a position to provide a daily service from Copenhagen Airport.”
Why Is SAS Making This Change?
As SAS explains it, this change is being made due to “big demand from customers in Denmark and North Europe and a timetable from six to seven departures a week.”
While that’s the official explanation, could there be more to this?
- Last year SAS announced that their Hong Kong flight would be relocated from Stockholm to Copenhagen, so this isn’t the first long haul route moving from Sweden to Denmark
- Norwegian has this winter canceled their Los Angeles to Copenhagen flight, which they operated prior to that
- Sweden charges an aviation eco-tax, which Denmark doesn’t
I suspect this change isn’t due to any one of the above factors, but rather a combination of all of them. It seems like Los Angeles to Copenhagen is a bigger market than Los Angeles to Stockholm, there are more connection opportunities, and the aviation tax for Sweden makes it more economical to instead fly via Denmark.
It does seem that the shame that Sweden is creating around flying is softening demand… but I guess that’s also the goal?
What do you make of SAS adjusting their Los Angeles flight from Stockholm to Copenhagen?
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