SAS Announces Flights to Dubai and Choses DWC over DXB

SAS latest route announcement is one worth talking about. Scandinavian Airlines is going to resume flights to the UAE after a 15 year hiatus, flying from Copenhagen to Dubai. It won't be flying to DXB as all other major European carriers, but to DWC instead.

Table of Contents

• SAS SK773 Choses DWC over DXB – Why?
• SK773: The A320neo Confirms the Leisure Focus
• What Is SAS' Underlying Strategy?
• Flight SK773 Timing and Schedule
• Thailand Expansion: The A350 Priority
• SAS Returning to The UAE 15 Years Later

SAS SK773 Choses DWC over DXB – Why?

This is the key and most interesting talking point about the latest SAS route announcement.

I find the airport choice much more interesting than the choice to resume flights from Copenhagen to Dubai, because SAS is differentiating from all other major carriers in this regard.

While all major full service airlines fly to Dubai International Airport (DXB), Scandinavian Airlines is going to launch flights to Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC). But why?

Sometime in the future all airlines will eventually move to DWC. The plan is for DWC to become the city's primary airport with capacity in excess of 100 million passengers per year.

However at the moment only a handful of passenger airlines fly here with most of them being low-cost airlines.

With less services available at the airport and transport options not as developed as at DXB, operating at DWC is much cheaper for airlines. Additionally the airport is not slot constrained as DXB with slots being significantly cheaper to come across.

Costs are likely to have had a significant impact on SAS' decision making. As the airline looking to serve primarily the leisure passenger segment. The operational period of SAS flight SK773 from Copenhagen to Dubai reinforces this assumption as it will only operate during the winter months, between October 25th 2026 and March 27th 2027.

Leisure passengers are less sensitive to the services and facilities of the airport in their decision making process. Therefore, more inclined to accepting the lower standards of DWC in exchange for a lower air fare.

SK773 Copenhagen to Dubai: The A320neo Confirms the Leisure Focus

The aircraft type chosen for SAS' return to the UAE is another clue to how the airline's focus is the leisure traveller.

SAS is going in a different direction to all other major European carriers in this regard too.

While all major airlines are operating aircraft with real premium cabins SAS is going with its one-class configured Airbus A320neo.

This move places SAS' product on route SK773 in a much worse position when compared to its competitors. Think of spending six and a half hours on an A320 which doesn't have seat-back entertainment nor does it have premium cabins or the space Emirates offers on its A380 to Copenhagen.

This aircraft type has no dedicated business class. The premium cabin is created by blocking the central seat in the forward rows creating a 2-2 layout. What we all know as Euro-biz.

Choosing the A320neo confirms this is a leisure-first route. Corporate travelers are in fact sensitive to the presence of a real business class. Additionally, SAS forecasts flight SK773 from Copenhagen to Dubai to be a thin one too. Meaning it doesn't expect large passenger volumes.

Scandinavian Airlines' Airbus A320neo can seat up to 180 passengers in an all economy setup. However, to cover the route I would guess that it won't be using the aircraft to its maximum 180 passenger capacity.

The flight is a long one for a small aircraft such as the Airbus A320neo, clocking in at 6 and a half hours.

What Is SAS' Underlying Strategy For Flight SK773?

So let's state the facts once again, SAS is:

• Serving a less developed airport in Dubai, which is further away and less connected to downtown and to the financial district.
• Using a smaller aircraft with no real dedicated business class fitted.

What's SAS' underlying strategy for its flights to Dubai?

Scandinavian Airlines avoiding to compete for business travelers on this route with the big players. The airline isn't in the condition to drive the premium demand necessary to fill its wide body jets on this route, against the fierce competition posed by Emirates.

It is instead looking to offer cheap flights for passengers headed to Dubai on a winter holiday getaway.

Al Maktoum airport isn't conveniently located for business travelers, but for leisure travelers its location does offer some advantages.

It is located out of the congested Deira district and allows easier/faster access to popular Dubai tourist hotspots, such as: Dubai Marina, JBR and The Palm Jumeirah (and eventually also Jebel Ali).

Flight SK773 will effectively be dropping off passengers closer to their final Dubai destination than if it served DXB.

Scandinavian Flight SK773 to Dubai Timing and Schedule

Flight SK773 will operate daily between Copenhagen and Dubai World Central (DWC).

SAS Also Launching Phuket and Krabi – but on the Airbus A350

Scandinavian Airlines is also launching another two leisure-focused routes for the winter 2026/2027 season, to Phuket and Krabi in Thailand.

However, in this case the aircraft of choice is the airline's flagship Airbus A350-900. SAS' A350s feature lie-flat business class seats along with a dedicated premium economy cabin.

A choice that confirms that SAS did have the wide body capacity to spare but deliberately chose the Airbus A320neo for its flights to Dubai. This strongly signals Dubai is seen as a risky market and is more of a low-risk experiment the airline is running, than anything else.

Both Phuket and Krabi are attract huge numbers of European travelers in the northern hemisphere winer season. Flights to Krabi (SK979) will operate on a 2x weekly frequency from December 8th 2026 through March 28th 2027.

Flights to Phuket will operate a variable frequency throughout the 2026/2027 winter season:

SK977: Copenhagen (CPH) – Phuket (HKT)

• December 9th through December 30th 2026 – 2x Weekly flights
• January 1st through February 28th 2027 – 3x Weekly flights
• March 3rd through March 28th 2027 – 2x Weekly flights

Operating from December 9th 2026 through March 29th 2027.

SAS Returning to The UAE 15 Years Later

Shifting focus back to the main story of this post, SAS is making a return on the UAE market after 15 years of absence. The airline, however, is taking a cautious approach to this strategic move.

Instead following the path all other major European carriers went down, its trying a lower risk approach.

Serving DWC with a narrow body aircraft reduces costs to the bare minimum for the airline.

It must also be noted that the Air France and KLM, that hold a stake in SAS and are part of the same alliance (SkyTeam) already serve DXB.

SAS isn't part of the group quite yet, but Air France-KLM are likely to increase to a majority share their stake soon. Having another airline in DXB where competition is cutthroat is somewhat risky.

Trying something different as will be done with flight SK773 to Dubai World Central is a better experiment to run.

More on the SAS Long-Haul Expansion

• SAS To Launch Flights to India
• Goodbye China and Hello Korea With New Seoul Incheon Flight
• SAS Starts Third US West Coast Destination in 2025