Today’s new, crazy flight route is…

Posted by on in | 1,736 Views | 11 Responses

Non-stop service from Houston to Stavanger, Norway is coming at the end of August.

Houston to Stavanger, coming 20 August 2014 from SAS
Map generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.

SAS believes they’ve identified a niche market which is ready to cough up the big bucks necessary for convenient, point-to-point service connecting major business centers. Or, as Rickard Gustafson, President and CEO of SAS, indicated in a statement, “The route we have established is a tailored product for a defined market with particular travel needs.” In this case the market is the oil & gas industry. Stavanger is a jumping off point for much of the North Sea exploration area and Houston is a hub of activity for the industry as well as a connecting point for other regions with strong business ties to the market.

SAS is launching the route using a 737 from PrivatAir in 44-seat business class configuration. KLM used to operate a similar configuration between Houston and Amsterdam, also targeted at the oil & gas market. The route will operatee 6x weekly (no Saturday service). Tickets go on sale 29 April 2014. We’ll see if this one lasts longer than Delta’s ORD-LHR route (though I have to believe SAS has at least one corporate contract in hand to announce such a route, so it likely will actually operate). I just know that I want that line. Time to stalk award inventory.

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11 Responses

  1. downhillcrasher
    downhillcrasher at |

    Wow!! Didn’t see this route coming, I thought the North Sea was running out of oil. Good for SAS…

  2. patricia
    patricia at |

    wow i nearly thought it’s early april’s fools =)

    totally didn’t expect this service.

  3. Marcus Aurealist
    Marcus Aurealist at |

    If it’s cheap, I’ll fly it just to spite the “I’m in the run around” business atteey Tudinal peeps .

    Or at least I’ll use it to tell them, YOUR PRICES TOO HIGH. Your english is good. Price TOO HIGH. Mao.

  4. Aptraveler
    Aptraveler at |

    Nice, this is another fun possibility for travel out of my hometown! Thanks Seth.

  5. Soltatio
    Soltatio at |

    Are the PrivatAir seats fully Lie Flat? It is the only reason I avoid SAS, even though there are a few times they would have been convenient to fly.

    1. Seth Miller
      Seth Miller at |

      PrivatAir configures the plane per the marketing airline spec. In this case it will be 44 SAS business seats.

      KLM does 44 WBC seats and it is not lie-flat. I expect the SAS layout will be similar.

  6. ptahcha
    ptahcha at |

    Definitely an oil route. SVG is an interesting little airport. Typical efficient Scandinavian operations. No fast pass or airport lounge though.

  7. Ryan
    Ryan at |

    I grew up in Katy, a suburb of Houston and home to a *ton* of Houston’s oil expats. I knew several people from Stavanger (dated one for a while) and at one point they were one of the largest ex-pat contingencies in the area due to the North Sea boom.

    I hearby dub this flight the “ConocoPhilips Express”

  8. FriendlySkies
    FriendlySkies at |

    Looks like it hasn’t been loaded into the UA systems yet… Would be a cool way to burn the rest of my UA miles.

    1. Seth Miller
      Seth Miller at |

      It’ll be loaded into the GDS at the end of April. Patience, young grasshopper. 😉

  9. James
    James at |

    I hear the sunbathing is great during the summer months…