SAS Scandinavian Airlines (SK, Copenhagen Kastrup) has announced that it will commence flights from Copenhagen Kastrup to Tokyo Haneda from March 29, 2020, and that it will discontinue its 6x weekly A340-300-operated service to Tokyo Narita, according to a press release from the airline. The new airport pair will allow the SAS flight to increase connectivity to 30 domestic Japanese destinations served by fellow Star Alliance member ANA - All Nippon Airways (NH, Tokyo Haneda).

The carrier's new A350-900s are earmarked to fly the route, however, when analysing SAS' schedule for the first week of Haneda flights on its website, the service will be flown by a mixture of A340s and A330-300s. The first A350-900 operated service is not planned until June 10, again when referring to the airline's booking tool.

The new flight SK983 leaves Copenhagen at 1405L and arrives in Japan at 0755L the next day. The return sector, SK984 departs Haneda at 1150L and lands in Denmark at 1610L the same day.

“Japan is already a very popular destination, and this will provide a positive boost for our travelers, both in relation to business travel and tourism. The new service offers an attractive timetable to Haneda and we hope it will be well received and appreciated by our travelers throughout Scandinavia and Japan,” Rickard Gustafson, President and Chief Executive Officer, SAS, said in a statement.

The airline's initial A350-900 was delivered to SAS in the past few weeks, arriving from Toulouse Blagnac on November 29.

More capacity between Japan and Scandinavia will be added in spring 2020 when All Nippon Airways opens a new route between Haneda and Stockholm.