SAS Launches New Route to Boston from Copenhagen

SAS launches its new route to Boston today, making it the first airline to offer direct service between Boston and Scandinavia.

This is the airline’s ninth direct route to the U.S. and brings the total number of flights the airline operates between Scandinavia and the U.S. each year to 6,800 flights carrying 1.6 million passengers.

SAS says the Copenhagen-Boston route was “designed to meet the rising demand for direct and daily departures shown by companies in the hi-tech, finance and medical sectors, as well as institutes of higher education,” though it also expects leisure travellers will take advantage of the route.

“We are the airline with the most robust offering for people looking to travel between Scandinavia and the USA. Our North American long-haul route expansion underlines this fact,” SAS Group CEO Rickard Gustafson said. “Our focus is on making life simpler for frequent flyers, a group of people who are increasingly demanding direct and flexible options for travel to the USA.”

SAS believes Copenhagen Airport will be a seamless transit hub for passengers from northern Europe and all of Scandinavia who want to make the onward connection to the U.S..

The Copenhagen/Boston flight will operate daily on a schedule set “to fit in with connections to and from Copenhagen and other central airports in Scandinavia and Northern Europe, including Brussels, Hannover and Düsseldorf,” SAS states.

The flight will first launch on a Boeing 737-800 with 92 seats, but which will soon be changed to a Boeing 737-700 seating 86 passengers; 20 in Business class and 66 in SAS Go Economy class. The aircraft is wet-leased, operated by PrivatAir using an SAS livery plane in a new cabin configuration.

U.S. Growth Strategy

SAS has previously said that growing routes in the U.S. was core to its forward economic strategy.

SAS President and CEO, Rickard Gustafson, announced these new routes in the company’s interim report last year, saying that the addition of these routes was key to its frequent-flyer focused strategy.

“SAS’s clear focus on Scandinavia’s frequent travelers is generating results,” he said. “We have noted substantial demand from our frequent travellers for flights to the US and in 2016 we are expanding.”

The new Boston flight follows shortly after the launch of SAS new service to LAX from Stockholm. The airline will also offer a new route to Miami later this year.