herro

SAS have today decided to close Copenhagen - Hong Kong down permanently due to low demand and the effect of the corona outbreak.

This means that it will not return and if there is any booked tickets they will be rebooked to Shanghai og Beijing.

Info from the sales portal of SAS:



Are you thinking that others routes will suffer the same?

fassy

Typical marketing bs lingo.

"SAS is determined to continue to serve Asia from Scandinavia including several direct routes and connectivity to a large number of cites in the region."

Several routes? PVG and PEK/BEJ. Well... two is more than one, so several. If we are generous we throw NRT into the mix and have three. What a stunning commitment to a market. And connectivity to a large number of cities in the region? Sure, you just have to connect in PVG or PEK which is a hell of its own.

Anyway, I always thought ARN-HKG was a stupid decision based on the poor connections into ARN. Was happy to see the flight move to CPH and I'm not sure SK had the chance to really evaluate CPH-HKG since the Covid-19 hit on travel had impacted the new route. But in general I think Asia is not a core market for SAS. They should focus on US which seem to be more stable for them. I guess, at least they will need to keep PEK, PVG and NRT due to the business travel, especially has they have been able to attract a lot of Germans on those routes. So I do not expect more routes getting canned.

GUWonder

I suspect we will see at least one SAS US route canned too within the coming 12 months.

I also wouldn't be surprised to see CPH-NRT become a shadow of its former self.

International long-haul travel demand is going to be up in the air -- in a challenging way for the airlines -- for at least quite some time.

Aerospatiale

Sad news, used it quite a lot travelling to KHH and TPE, not particularly fan of flying via PEK or PVG. Hope to see HKG back on the route map in the future.

Dover2Golf

I'm sure the folks at Finnair will be delighted by this as more business is handed to them for nothing.

SK AAR

Sad indeed. I suppose the chance of CX coming back to CPH is slim? (I would expect CX to be severally hit by the impacts of the virus and to refrain from taking on new destinations for some time).

GUWonder

CX is in extremely precarious position. I don't think we will see CX gambling on CPH anytime soon.

My bet is that if they survive well enough then Finnair and SAS will have a de facto peace of sort with SAS having US/North America while Finnair has Asia. Maybe AY 666 will come back in vogue to serve those willing to devilishly dance around Asia.

I am going to really miss the long-haul route network out of CPH for quite some time and then some as it's probably going to be a weak shadow of its former self for quite some time.

SK AAR

Any chance of EB accepting to change destination to TPE for an EB award to HKG (SK flights only). Obviously, to cancel and rebook at much higher point level (as this would be a Star Alliance award rather than a SK award) is of no interest. I suppose rebooking from PVG or BJS onwards to TPE on BR rather than on CX/HX to HKG shouldn't make much difference (obviously, subject to award availability for the BR flights)

Alternatively, any chance of EB accepting to change destination to NRT?

dodgeflyer

Let's not forget that democracy demonstrations have also halted demaned for HKG since May (?) 2019, so reality is they had 6+ months of undisturbed operations. A real shame to be honest. HKG is by far my most flown Asian destination, and after moving back to Scandinavia, was hoping to use them more.

fassy

Changing from SK metal award to a partner airline?

No way.

I wouldn’t be surprised if SK would even tell customers with award tickets they can only rebook to PEK or PVG if there is award inventory for those days. Same for NRT, rebooking shouldn’t be an issue but if course only if award seats are free.

SK AAR

No. SK to BJS/PVG but then BR or CA onwards to TPE rather than CA/HX onwards to HKG.

NRT would most likely require award seats being available, yes. But for rebooking the same dates to/from HKG I will not take any nonsense about award seats not being available. Not my problem...I suppose CX/HX onwards to HKG will be in revenue class anyway.

fassy

I guess they will make up special rules for award tickets and try to tell people "tough luck" and you will have to fight an uphill battle. Just the way SK has been handling award tickets for a long time - as disgusting as it is. Perhaps this time, they make it right but I doubt it.

SK AAR

Yeah, maybe.

Anyway, I'm tempted to accept cancel/refund and book another more desired destination for the summer holidays (despite in X class); much better value as revenue fares are still quite high for July. Now there are plenty of award seats (X class) available to the destination I was searching for in vain before booking this trip to HKG for Oct.

Revenue tickets to TPE for Oct are reasonably priced now so it makes sense to cancel the award ticket to HKG and buy a revenue ticket CPH-TPE.

pmarrsouth

I booked this a couple of days before all the inventory went to 0. Now I know why

Too bad, as PE in SAS gets me 150% miles on CM, but LH/LX only gets me 100%. Was the same price too

Can you give a link to where on the SAS site it says this please? I want to have that saved before I cancel my booking for refund, in case they give hassle

Thanks!

hkgg

does the almighty pr of c still allow for foreign nationals to transit, especially at PEK, given it has banned entry for foreigners (HK, SG and TW have banned transit as well as entry)...