• 

  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

Scandinavian Airways is expanding its North American network with direct flights from Sweden and Denmark to Toronto, Canada. This comes after the airline reported strong second-quarter growth in passenger numbers and yield factors.

On June 2, the first Scandinavian Airways (SAS) flight on the new route departed Copenhagen Airport Kastrup (CPH) at 12:53 hours and arrived at Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) at 14:58. Flight SK949 was operated with an Airbus A321LR, registration SE-DMO, and covered the 6,287 kilometers (3,900 miles) in 8:04 hours. The following day Flightradar24.com data shows the same aircraft operated flight SK947, departing Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN) at 12:17 and arriving in Toronto at 14:28.

The Airbus A321LR is opening up new routes from Scandinavia to Toronto

According to ch-aviation.com, SAS has three Airbus A321LRs, plus 79 other A320 family aircraft in its fleet of 155 aircraft. Other aircraft in the SAS fleet are Airbus A220, A330 and A350, ATR72, Boeing B737, Bombardier CRJ900 and Embraer ERJ190 aircraft. The SAS A321LRs have 157 seats in a three-class configuration of 22 in SAS business, 12 SAS Plus (premium economy), and 123 Go economy seats. The business class seats are fully lie-flat, while every seat has IFE screens, PC-power and/or hi-power USB and the aircraft has hi-speed WiFi onboard.

SAS will operate three weekly flights from Copenhagen and four weekly flights from Stockholm to Toronto using the A321LR. Copenhagen flights will operate on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, while Stockholm services will depart Arlanda on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The return flight will operate on the following day. In the coming summer season, SAS will fly to seven destinations in the US and Canada; Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington DC and Toronto.

SAS president and CEO Anko van der Werff said the airline was delighted to connect Canada and Scandinavia and fly to Toronto with the latest-generation aircraft, which is ideal for this route.

"Using the A321LR means we can connect even more parts of the world and it is well-suited for the Scandinavian market and the emerging travel patterns to and from the region. This state-of-the-art aircraft will give our customers an even more pleasant, comfortable and sustainable way of traveling."

SAS has started 2022 with solid results but will it sustain that through summer?

In its second-quarter (February-April 2022) results, SAS reported passengers increased by 28% compared to the first quarter, with the load factor up by 11% to 67%. Total Q2 2022 revenue was $718 million, compared to $197 million in the same period last year. In the first half of the SAS 2022 financial year (November 2021-April 2022), revenue was $1.28 billion, compared to $429 million in H1 2021. The revenue gains came from across SAS markets, including domestic, intra-Scandinavian, Europe and Intercontinental routes.

On a negative note, SAS said it was reducing its summer program by 4,000 flights out of the 75,000 flights it had planned. The airline said this was because "the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to most of the airline industry experiencing difficulty in rebuilding operations."

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