March 14th 2016 was a historic day for SAS. For the first time in almost 22 years, the Scandinavian airline operated a direct route from Scandinavia to Los Angeles, thereby, reestablishing the Nordic connection to the City of Angels. With the new service between Stockholm and Los Angeles, ‘The Golden State’ is now moving closer and closer to the Scandinavian travelers.
Back in 1954, SAS became the first airline ever to fly directly from Scandinavia to Los Angeles by crossing the Polar area. Since then, the route was shut down in August 1994, but yesterday, almost 22 years later, the service was re-introduced by SAS with their new route between Stockholm and Los Angeles. The new route will have daily departures between Arlanda and LAX, and it will add to the growing number of routes connecting Scandinavia and the US.
– The continuing longhaul investments by the Scandinavian airlines support the unquestionable increase in our demand for California and the American West coast. With the opening of SAS’ new direct route to LA on top of Norwegian’s direct route to Las Vegas from November last year, the foundation of a further increase in the number of Scandinavian visitors to California in the years to come has been laid, and we look forward to following the development”, says Karin Gert Nielsen, Managing Director of Visit California Scandinavia.
Scandinavians flock to California
The popularity of California in Scandinavian countries is undisputable. The Golden State keeps on increasing its popularity, and the numbers are there to back it up. In 2014, 268,000 Scandinavians crossed the Atlantic to get a piece of the Californian sun, splendid nature, mouthwatering cuisine, unique surf culture and much more, which was an increase of 11.2% over 2013.
These numbers are a strong indicator of California’s popularity with the people from the North, and the same goes for the Scandinavian spending in California. In total, Swedes, Danes and Norwegians spent 11.5% more on their travels to California in 2014 than the year before. What is even more interesting is the fact that per trip Scandinavian travelers spent USD 1,848, making them the highest spending Europeans in California.
Also read:Â SAS med take off til Los Angeles
