Originally Posted by
FlyingMoose
On the other hand, without the Swedish government as a shareholder, SAS can now sideline those political wills and with the help of AFKL operate with 100% non Swedish-FAs and union employees which could make it a much better version of itself. I also don't understand how having a 3rd hub in CPH on a 45 minute feeder with largely duplicate routes makes any sense for AFKL in the long run. There will also be a shift in passenger choices that would historically to some extend had no other option than to fly CPH-US or ARN/OSL-CPH-US and then use US Domestic connections onwards but who now will probably opt to do ARN/CPH-AMS/CDG-Actual destination directly. It makes less sense to fly ARN-ORD-PDX or ARN-EWR-LAS than to just fly ARN-AMS-PDX/LAS or other equivalent locations like AUS or IAH.
It is not like those choises have not existed all along. Staying with the alliance and connect in FRA/MUC/ZRH and fly direct to a large selection of US destinations, or connect in Heathrow for the BA/AA network. The in-alliance with SK options change slightly, but the overall picture remains the same.
Apart from the obvious mentioned above, look at how close Frankfurt, Munich, and Zürich are as hubs for Lufthansa Group. Add Vienna to that, and Brussels as a semi hub. Of course the will tweak the routes a bit to optimise the use of the 3 hubs, I am sure LHG did as well when ZHR and VIE was added.