Scandinavian Airlines is venturing into a brand new main U.S. market in a transfer that underscores main adjustments underway on the airline.
Beginning this summer season, SAS will start flights between its Copenhagen Airport (CPH) hub in Denmark and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport (ATL).
The brand new 2024 route will kick off with every day flights between the 2 cities all through the summer season months.
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As soon as it begins its Atlanta service, SAS will fly to a complete of 9 North American airports, together with eight within the U.S.
It is also a transfer that, in some ways, indicators the beginning of a brand new chapter for the service. With SAS embroiled in bankruptcy proceedings, Air France and KLM acquired a stake within the service final yr. Because it hyperlinks up with its new minority house owners, SAS plans to shift from the Star Alliance (which it as soon as co-founded) to the SkyTeam alliance.
The alliance shift figures to see SAS deepen its partnerships not simply with Air France and KLM but in addition with different SkyTeam carriers like Delta Air Strains.
The truth is, in asserting the brand new path to Delta’s house base in Atlanta, SAS management famous an interline settlement that can permit SAS flyers to guide itineraries with seamless connections to Delta flights.
New SAS path to Atlanta
The route between Copenhagen and Atlanta, house of the world’s busiest airport, will embrace every day nonstop flights between the 2 cities starting June 17.
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Over the summer season, SAS will function every day frequencies between the 2 cities aboard an Airbus A330 plane, which seats a complete of 266 passengers.
In the course of the winter months, SAS will function 5 weekly spherical journeys on the route, together with flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays aboard an Airbus A350, which seats 300 passengers.
Eastbound flights from Atlanta to Copenhagen will take off at (or simply after) 7 p.m. EST and land round 10:20 a.m. native time the subsequent day. Westbound flights will depart Copenhagen simply after 1 p.m. and land round 5 p.m., all instances native.
Modifications on different routes
Along with including an Atlanta pin to its route map, SAS is growing frequencies to a couple different cities.
It’s going to start flying as much as two every day spherical journeys between CPH and New York’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport (JFK). SAS already flies to the New York space, with service between Newark Liberty Worldwide Airport (EWR) and Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN), Oslo Airport (OSL) in Norway and CPH.
SAS additionally plans to shift from six weekly frequencies to every day service between CPH and Boston Logan Worldwide Airport (BOS) in the course of the summer season months.
In whole, SAS at present serves eight U.S. airports and one in Canada. This is what the airline’s present U.S. route map seems like as of this month, in keeping with scheduling knowledge from aviation analytics agency Cirium.
SAS will proceed to serve eight U.S. airports after including ATL because the service plans to finish its service to Miami Worldwide Airport (MIA) in early April.
Dipping its toes into SkyTeam territory
At current, the SAS U.S. route map (with some exceptions) skews closely towards main hubs for its present Star Alliance accomplice, United Airways.
Nonetheless, the addition of the Atlanta service is a notable foray into Delta’s high hub metropolis.
An interline settlement with Delta will permit passengers to guide itineraries that embrace seamless connections between the 2 carriers — although it isn’t a full-scale codeshare settlement like Delta has with its present SkyTeam companions.
“Passengers can proceed their journey on different Delta-served locations out of Atlanta,” SAS president and CEO Anko van der Werff defined in an announcement. “This growth means an expanded providing for SAS passengers, who can stay up for reaching a number of new and thrilling locations throughout the Southern USA, Caribbean and Latin America.”
As for the timing of the airline’s transfer to SkyTeam, an SAS spokesperson tells TPG that particulars are nonetheless “below discussions” with each the Star Alliance and SkyTeam.
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