New Routes of the Day (2 June 2022): SAS between Copenhagen/Stockholm and Toronto

The beginning of June saw SAS introduce new long-haul service to Canada’s biggest city, Toronto, from both Copenhagen (3-weekly from 2 June) and Stockholm ARN (4-weekly from 3 June) using its brand new A321LRs. These will operate in a three-class configuration with 157 seats; 22 seats in SAS Business, 12 seats in SAS Plus (premium economy) and 123 seats in SAS Go (economy). SAS currently has three A321LRs in its fleet according to planespotters.net, registered as SE-DMO, SE-DMR and SE-DMS. The same aircraft, SE-DMO, was used to operate both inaugural routes as it flew Copenhagen-Toronto-Stockholm-Toronto-Copenhagen.

The 6,290-kilometre route from Copenhagen is already served by fellow Star Alliance member Air Canada with 3-weekly service using 298-seat 787-9s. The Canadian carrier is set to increase service to 5-weekly in August, September and October. The 6,330-kilometre route from Stockholm faces no direct competition. According to Cirium data, the two cities have not been connected by non-stop service for at least 20 years.

Seventh destination in North America

This brings to seven the number of destinations served by SAS in North America. In addition to Toronto, it also serves six US destinations this summer; Boston (from Copenhagen), Chicago (from Copenhagen and Stockholm), Los Angeles (from Copenhagen), New York EWR (from Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm), San Francisco (from Copenhagen) and Washington (from Copenhagen). Apart from the two new Toronto routes the only other change since the summer of 2019 has been the decision to serve Los Angeles non-stop from Copenhagen rather than Stockholm.

What they said

Anko van der Werff, President & CEO, SAS, said: “We are delighted to connect Canada and Scandinavia and fly to Toronto with our latest generation aircraft, which is ideal for this route. Using the A321LR means we can connect even more parts of the world and it is well suited for the Scandinavian market and the emerging travel patterns to and from the region. SAS aims to be a global leader in sustainable aviation. As we continue to phase in new, fuel-efficient aircraft such as the A321LR, we now have one of Europe’s most modern fleets. This state-of-the-art aircraft will give our customers an even more pleasant, comfortable and sustainable way of travelling.”