SAS Scandinavian Airlines (SK, Copenhagen Kastrup) is set to move its service to Hong Kong International from Stockholm Arlanda to Copenhagen Kastrup in order to better utilise the new slots obtained by the carrier and improve the route's profitability.
According to the ch-aviation capacity module, the relocation will happen with the commencement of the Winter 2018/19 schedule on October 28, 2018. The carrier will continue to operate the service 5x weekly but will replace the current A330-300 equipment with an A340-300.
The new slots would allow the carrier to operate the route during the more in-demand night hours. Currently, SAS flight departs from Hong Kong at 0920LT (0120Z). As of October 28, the departure will be moved to 0120LT (1720Z).
"To be able to exploit the new airport slot and offer a night flight to Scandinavia from Hong Kong, the route needs to be flown from Copenhagen for operational reasons. Obviously, it’s sad that we’re moving from Stockholm, but in this case, Copenhagen offers better long-term opportunities,” SAS EVP (Commercial) Karl Sandlund said.
According to the ch-aviation capacity module, out of SAS' three Scandinavian hubs, Copenhagen is the largest with 978 weekly departures. The carrier operates 967 weekly departures out of Stockholm and a further 883 departures out of Oslo Gardermoen.
In terms of the Scandinavian carrier's East Asian network, the service to Hong Kong is the only one operated out of Stockholm. SAS also flies to Beijing Capital, Shanghai Pudong, and Tokyo Narita out of Copenhagen. It does not operate any long-haul services to Asia out of Oslo.
