SAS Drops Winter Link to Dubai

SAS Scandinavian Airlines is reported to have dropped its three times weekly Copenhagen – Dubai link from its forthcoming winter schedule. During the 2010/2011 season, the carrier operated two flights per week with an Airbus A340-300 and one a week with a smaller A330, but will now re-assign this capacity to other routes, according to sources.

The airline has served the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a seasonal basis for the last four years but this winter would have faced strong competition from Emirates Airline, which is launching a daily year-round flight on August 1. Like most of its new routes, The Dubai-based carrier will use an Airbus A330-200 on the daily link, configured in a low density, three-class seating arrangement, but it is already planning to upgrade the route to a Boeing 777-200ER from February 1, 2012.

SAS accounted for 32 per cent of the estimated 56,000 passengers that travelled between Dubai and Copenhagen in the past 12 months, with the remaining two-thirds travelling via another city. Austrian Airlines held the largest share of this market with 20 per cent of the total traffic routing via its Vienna base.

Originally proposed schedule:

SK961 CPH2105 – 0630+1DXB 343 23
SK961 CPH2105 – 0630+1DXB 333 6
SK962 DXB0905 – 1315CPH 343 34
SK962 DXB0905 – 1315CPH 333 7