SAS, one of the founding members of Star Alliance (the world’s first airline alliance), is no longer a member. As of Sunday, the Scandinavian carrier switched teams to the SkyTeam Alliance. This came as the Air France-KLM Group acquired about a 20% stake in SAS, forcing the switch.
“This is the beginning of a new era for SAS. Starting today, our customers will experience a smooth transition to SkyTeam, thanks to the tireless efforts of all SAS colleagues. The partnership will open new opportunities for our passengers, expand our global network, and allow us to collaborate closely with like-minded airlines.” – Anko van der Werff, President and CEO, SAS
Leaving Star Alliance
The acquisition took place in October 2023, and it was announced that the alliance change would happen this year. But
Air France-KLM
was not the only one to acquire a stake in SAS, Castlelake and Lind Invest came together to invest nearly $1.2 billion. Now that the airline has switched over to SkyTeam, it has already announced network changes in the United States to correspond with
Delta Air Lines
hubs.
Photo: Flypix | Shutterstock
In January of this year, SAS announced it would launch service to its ninth US destination, Atlanta. Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) is home to Delta, making the addition of flights a key strategic move in the alliance shift. Daily flights were launched in June and through an already existing codeshare agreement with Delta, SAS’ passengers were offered greater connectivity on Delta’s network.
For the summer, the flight operates daily on the Airbus A330s. In the winter, frequencies will drop to five weekly and the equipment will be swapped to the Airbus A350. In addition to adding a new destination, SAS also increased operations to two Delta hubs, New York JFK and Boston.
According to a Simple Flying report from April, SAS CEO Anko van der Werff said that the airline’s US network would be untangled.
“Atlanta was not a surprising decision at all. You will see over the course of time that we will gradually untangle our Star Alliance network and connectivity in North America and beyond. We will really build up SkyTeam.”
Werff added that in the future, flights to ATL would replace the airline’s operations to Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), hubs for both United Airlines and American Airlines. In the New York Area, flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) will replace operations to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). How quickly that change can take place will depend on the availability of slots at JFK.
Photo: Omar F Martinez | Shutterstock
Booking SAS flights with Delta
Currently, SAS flights are not available for booking with Delta SkyMiles. Connecting itineraries are available for cash bookings, but sole itineraries with the Scandinavian carrier are not available. Simple Flying has contacted Delta to ask when this will become available.
A quick search of the Delta website for a flight from ATL to Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN) shows several itineraries. One is 100% on Delta, connecting at JFK and then flying on to Stockholm. Another option is to connect at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport (AMS) and then fly on KLM up to ARN. The only option to fly with SAS is to fly from ATL to Heathrow Airport (LHR) in London and then connect on SAS Connect to ARN.
At the moment, finding itineraries with SAS flights proves somewhat difficult. After searching several routes from US to Europe, and SAS flight popped up on an itinerary from Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) to Oslo Airport. Departing on October 8, the itinerary has a Delta operated flight from SLC to LHR and then a connecting flight on SAS to OSL. On the return leg, nothing is available with SAS and connect either in Paris with Air France or Amsterdam with KLM
Where SAS is flying in the US
According to data from Cirium, SAS has 616 roundtrip flights scheduled to and from the US this month. Its seat offering surpasses 155,000. The airline’s US operations have fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic and have increased by 5.5% over September 2019.
Currently, SAS serves the US from all three of its hubs: Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Oslo. But, Copenhagen has the most flights, by far. The busiest route is to JFK, with 11 weekly flights. But, since the airline uses its Airbus A321neos on the route, its seat offering is just 7,222 in each direction.
Seven of SAS’ US routes are served daily:
- Copenhagen – San Francisco
- Copenhagen – Atlanta
- Oslo – Newark
- Copenhagen – Newark
- Stockholm – Newark
- Copenhagen – Los Angeles
- Copenhagen – Boston
Chicago and Washington (Dulles) are each served six times weekly.
Photo: Airbus
The highest seat offerings are from Copenhagen to Boston and Los Angeles, which are both served by the airline’s Airbus A350s. These aircraft have 300 seats, 40 in business class and another 260 in economy. But the most used aircraft on SAS’ flights to the US is the Airbus A330-300. The breakdown of flights by aircraft type is as follows:
- Airbus A330-300: 402 flights
- Airbus A350-900: 120 flights
- Airbus A321neo: 94 flights
Currently, SAS flies to four Delta hubs: Los Angeles, Atlanta, Boston, and JFK. As mentioned above, the airline’s network will shift away from United’s hubs to Delta’s hubs. This will likely include new destinations, like Minneapolis, Detroit, or even Seattle. But the airline’s detailed plans have not been unveiled at this time.