On September 1, SAS was to resume flights between Copenhagen and Boston. At the same time, it would also be the premiere for the company’s Airbus A321LR, but SAS chooses to postpone the resumption of Copenhagen-Boston and with it also the premiere for the A321LR in the company’s route network.
A weak demand for travel to the USA due to the uncertainty surrounding the delta variant of the corona virus means that SAS is postponing the restart of the Copenhagen-Boston route, which would have taken place on 1 September, reports check-in.dk. The decision taken on Monday also means that the premiere of the aircraft type Airbus A321LR in the SAS route network will have to wait and it is currently unclear both when Copenhagen-Boston will be resumed and the premiere of the A321LR will take place.
SAS has ordered three Airbus A321LR aircraft, which is a narrow-body aircraft, with room for 157 passengers in a three-class configuration, which has a range to be able to fly long-haul routes to, for example, North America from Scandinavia. The type of aircraft that has become popular with airlines is suitable for flying on long-haul routes where the demand is not large enough for traditional long-haul aircraft, such as the wide-body aircraft Airbus A330.
In addition, the aircraft type can come in handy when the pandemic has significantly reduced the demand for long-haul flights and is deployed on routes where wide-body aircraft previously flew to start flights again. However, the disadvantage of an aircraft such as the Airbus A321LR is that the cargo capacity is lower than in larger long-haul aircraft, which can negatively affect the use of the aircraft type during the pandemic. This is because the demand for freight in many cases is what makes it economical to fly long-haul flights when the number of passengers is relatively small.
(Photo: Airbus)
Credit: Simon Ericson & Flyg24Nyheter
Original article (SE): https://flyg24nyheter.com/2021/08/31/sas-skjuter-upp-airbus-a321lr-premiaren/
