SAS Scandinavian Airlines (SK, Copenhagen Kastrup) is planning to keep its fleet of eight remaining A340-300s in service for a while longer airline chief executive Rickard Gustafson has said.

Speaking to Business Insider magazine, Gustafson said low oil prices had rendered the type a more attractive option as compared to acquiring newer more fuel efficient, but overall more costly, aircraft such as the A330-300 and A350-900.

"When we ordered our new [more fuel-efficient jets] the decision was made with the price of fuel at USD1,000 per ton. Today it's half that amount," the CEO said. "To buy a new wide-body jet requires hundreds of millions of dollars in costs. We can operate our A340s for a tenth of that."

The Scandinavian carrier had planned to replace its A340s with newer A330-300s and eventually A350-900s as their leases began to run out.

It present, SAS uses its A340s on longhaul flights from its Copenhagen Kastrup hub to Beijing Capital, Chicago O'Hare, New York Newark, San Francisco, Shanghai Pudong, Tokyo Narita, and Washington Dulles. It is also used on flights from Stockholm Arlanda to Los Angeles International and Newark as well as from Bergen to Tokyo Narita.