As Europe Travel Booms, Copenhagen Stakes Claim As Northernmost Hub

Europe has four of the top ten most connected airport hubs in the world. That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for another key European hub.

Stockholm-based SAS Scandinavian Airlines is rebuilding after emerging, newly capitalized, from bankruptcy in August. It has joined SkyTeam, entered a codeshare with Delta, started to add transatlantic routes and has newly focused on its Copenhagen hub.

The carrier says it will expand in Copenhagen starting next summer, “positioning the main hub as a key international gateway to and from Scandinavia and Northern Europe.” The 15 new routes from Copenhagen will include Copenhagen-Seattle, its 11^th transatlantic route, which starts in May on an Airbus 330 seating 262 passengers. The airline operates an all-Airbus fleet.

“We don’t have the ambition to one day compete with Heathrow or Frankfurt,” said Paul Verhagen, SAS chief commercial officer, in an interview. “They have a natural catchment area we don’t. There are only about 20 million people in Scandinavia.

“What we do want to achieve by growing share out of Copenhagen is to offer more connections so we are at the top of the tier two airports in Europe,” Verhagen said.

A recent report by OAG ranks airports by combining two components: the number of available connections and the number of destinations. London Heathrow ranked first; Amsterdam fourth; Paris Charles de Gaulle seventh and Frankfurt tenth. (The fifth European airport was Munich, which ranked 25^th.)

Last month, SAS exited bankruptcy with new owners including Air France/KLM; the Danish state, and two long-haul private investment firms, one American and one Danish. SAS retains hubs in Oslo and Stockholm, but decided to focus on Copenhagen. “The most important reason is its geographical position,” Verhagen said. “We are an airline of the north, so by default you want the most southern hub. It wouldn’t make sense to put it in the most northern part of Europe.”

The hub selection was somewhat easier since Denmark is the only country that holds a stake in the airline. “Traditionally SAS has been an airline that because of Swedish ownership spread itself over three hubs,” said Verhagen, who is Dutch. “As a result of that, we had never owned a specific hub. We had spread ourselves too thin. Now, we are focused on owning one of those hubs, with a slot portfolio that allows us to be relevant.”

Copenhagen Airport (CPH) is efficiently laid out for hub and spoke operations, with connecting times between 30 and 40 minutes and room for growth, Verhagen said. Also, the airport offers a short walk to the city’s light rail system and a 15-minute ride to downtown.

Next summer, SAS will operate about 120 daily Copenhagen departures. Of the airport’s 26.8 million passengers in 2023, 2.9 million were transatlantic passengers, primarily on SAS’s ten transatlantic flights. North American destinations next year will include Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York JFK, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C. and Toronto

Besides Seattle, SAS added 15 new European routes including Madrid, Krakow, Valencia, Malta, Bucharest, Budapest and Milan, as well as more frequencies to Stockholm, Oslo, Prague, Berlin and Helsinki. The top five destinations are London, Oslo, Stockholm, Amsterdam and Paris, according to airport statistics.

From Oslo, SAS will maintain 125 daily departures, primarily to Europe including various Norwegian cities accessible only by plane. SAS will also add Oslo-JFK next summer. Stockholm will have 120 daily departures, many using regional partner BRA. Neither city has been downsized, Verhagen said.

The shift from Star to SkyTeam has raised possibilities. One is that SAS will add flights from Copenhagen and Oso to JFK, where they can connect with Delta flights. SAS will retain its flights to Newark, where Star member United is the hub carrier. Verhagen noted that Air France also flies to both airports and that Newark has a strong local market.

Another benefit is that effective Sept. 25, SAS signed a codeshare agreement with Delta. The agreement provides reciprocal miles. Also, “Delta customers flying from North America will gain additional access to 50 destinations in Northern Europe beyond SAS’s hubs in Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm,” Delta said in a press release. “Meanwhile, SAS customers will gain access to more than 150 destinations in North America via Delta’s hubs in Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle.”

Looking ahead, SAS hopes to gain transatlantic immunity with Delta, Air France and KLM. Also, SAS will fly to additional Delta hubs. Minneapolis seems like a natural. “To this day, Minnesota has more residents of Norwegian and Swedish ancestry than any other state, according to U.S. Census bureau data analyzed by the state demographer’s office,” The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported in 2023. Asked about Minneapolis, Verhagen said, “It won’t be a surprise to you, there is good reason to look at it. It’s not on the immediate map because we don’t have the fleet yet.”

While SAS operates a larger schedule in summer than winter, Verhagen said a goal is “to make sure there is interest to visit Scandinavia in summer and winter.” Asked why someone would visit in winter, he responded by quoting a saying, “There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.” He said the region has a dry cold and “You can dress well for it.” Also, he said, the few hours of daylight are bright and sunny. “The sun reflects on the snow,” he said. “It’s brighter than you think.”