SAS said it had struggled with profitability on the Stockholm-Hong Kong route since launching it three years ago, but said the new slot would offer an improved timetable including night flights.
It said the route had to be flown from Denmark “for operational reasons”.
“Obviously, it's sad that we're moving from Stockholm, but in this case, Copenhagen offers better long-term opportunities that will enable us to further improve the SAS customer experience,” said Karl Sandlund, executive vice president commercial at SAS, in a statement on Thursday.
The new route will operate five days a week with tickets on sale from today and the first flight leaving on October 28th. The airline said that passengers who had already booked a flight from Stockholm would be rebooked via Copenhagen to Hong Kong.
While Stockholmers may not celebrate the prospects of having to catch a connecting flight via Copenhagen, the news will likely be welcomed by frequent Hong Kong travellers based in Denmark or southern Sweden, which is connected to the Danish capital's airport via train.
“SAS has a strong presence at all the major Scandinavian airports. It is important for us to review all our routes on a continuous basis in order to be able to maximize the benefits for both passengers and our profitability,” said Sandlund.
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Assuming that the income of the route is somewhat fixed… (since ticket prices include tax, what varies is the % going to the airline and to the tax authorities)
Assuming 100 of the people are from Malmö/Copenhagen area
ARN Departure: 262 seats at 400 kr flight tax * 365 days per year = 38.25 million + 100 seats (return flight from ARN to CPH) at 60 kr flight tax * 365 = 2.2 million, or total tax or 40.4 million
CPH Departure: 162 seats (get the people to CPH) at 60kr tax x 365 = 3.5 million. No departure tax from CPH for the outbound flight to HKG, no departure tax from CPH to get the 162 people back to ARN
Net difference= 36.8 million/year into SAS’s hands. Running an A330-200 costs about 75k kr/hour. It’s a 10 hour flight, so cost of the flight is 750k kr. 36.8m kr covers the operating expenses of about 50 flights (out of a total of 730), or 7%. That’s a hell of a win simply by avoiding the tax.
150 seats at