• 

  SAS

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  SK/SAS

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Copenhagen Airport, Oslo Gardermoen Airport, Stockholm Arlanda Airport

  Year Founded:

  1946

  Alliance:

  Star Alliance

  Airline Group:

  SAS Group

  CEO:

  Anko van der Werff

Speaking at Routes Europe in Norway last week, Anko van der Werff, the CEO and President of SAS said that the carrier has too many widebodies. It is because of the situation in Asia, to which it has almost no flights now, and restrictions on Ukrainian and Russian airspace. But it is also part of a broader program to increase competitiveness as it increasingly uses A321LRs.

Too many widebodies

The 14-strong widebody fleet of SAS consists solely of A330-300s (eight) and A350-900s (six). The last of its A340-300s were removed in 2020, just as many other carriers retired older, less fuel-efficient aircraft during the pandemic.

Speaking about its twin aisles, van der Werff said:

We've been quite clear that we've got too many widebodies at the moment. The world has produced too many widebodies as a whole, and I think that the world is now stuck with finding solutions for them.

That view hasn't been helped by the prolonged recovery in Asia, especially in China, as it had five widebodies dedicated to the continent. It now has "almost no flights" to Asia. The war between Ukraine and Russia hasn't helped, likewise for many others, including Finnair. It has called for action, whether short-term or long-term.

Like any carrier, SAS must have the right fleet and fleet size and deploy them correctly. COVID and geopolitical developments don't only drive its view of twin aisles. It is part of the SAS Forward program to increase competitiveness and relevance.

We need to solve Asia, solve the widebody problem, and then start utilizing our remaining fleet, including the A321LRs, to the fullest extent, and then let's look at new opportunities.

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The A321LR: "a very good aircraft for us"

SAS currently has three A321LRs which are used on seven routes this summer. The type entered scheduled, regular flying with SAS in February this year from Copenhagen to Washington. The 4,074-mile (6,557km) airport pair is now the world's longest narrowbody route.

Read more: The World’s Longest Narrowbody Flights"They're a very good aircraft for us," van der Werff said. "We're exploring what we can do with the A321LR. That's an aircraft that can connect parts of the world that aren't very densely populated." Like Scandinavia, with only 21 million people living in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, against 83 million in Germany. The biggest city, Stockholm, has only 1.5 million in the catchment area.

As part of the experiment, SAS will soon begin Toronto from Copenhagen and Stockholm in June, "something we couldn't do with a widebody but can test with a narrowbody."

Discover more aviation news.

Autumn and winter will be challenging

While summer demand is "strong, really, really good," van der Werff said it's still "not where we hoped it would be." And autumn and winter will be the actual test:

I'm still not convinced by winter as everything is not back to normal. The Netherlands [where he is from] expects 10 million COVID infections this autumn and winter in a population of 17 million. That will impact again.

What do you make of it all? Let us know in the comments.