SAS, Stockholm - Peking 5x i veckan

[Alf]

Enligt tidningen Shanghai Daily ska SAS starta ARN-PEK med en A340 i september.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/03/24/253809/Vikings_set_to_increase_flight__links_to_China.htm

"SCANDINAVIAN Airlines, the fourth-biggest airline in Europe, will fly nonstop from Stockholm to Beijing in September as it further taps the nation's growing aviation demand, the company announced yesterday.

The route will be the third operated by the north European carrier in China and the first linking China to Sweden, it said.

SAS said it will operate five weekly flights between the two capitals using an Airbus 340 aircraft. At present, the carrier flies from Copenhagen, the Danish capital, to Shanghai and Beijing.

"China is one of our fastest-growing markets," said Bjorn Ekegren, director and general manager of China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, South Korea and Mongolia.

"Our next focus is to fly to southern China and we will name one more destination in southern China within this year," he said.

SAS is investing heavily in the Chinese market, recruiting 34 Chinese cabin crew for the first time this year, offering Chinese language in-flight magazines and launching a Chinese version Website, said Ekegren.

China's fast-expanding tourist market to Europe has pushed the north European carrier to attach more importance to the nation.

A big increase in Chinese tourists to north Europe following an approved destination status agreement signed between China and Europe in 2004 has helped the airline's China revenue grow 15 percent to 20 percent in 2005, it said.

Previously, most of the passengers were businessmen and executives, it said.

In the first two months of this year, the number of tourist passengers jumped 60 percent while the number of business-class clients rose 35 percent from last year.

On the Shanghai route, the carrier witnessed a 20 percent increase in the number of passengers during the same period from last year. "