SAS opts for Dubai World Central instead of Dubai International on its return to the UAE
ACL filings showed that SAS had obtained slots at DXB during the previous winter season.
SAS has announced that it will be returning to Dubai, the UAE, launching daily flights to Dubai Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC), also known as Dubai World Central. The airline last served the city in March 2011, flying to its other airport, Dubai International Airport (DXB).
On January 29, 2026, SAS unveiled three new routes from Copenhagen Airport (CPH). In addition to CPH-DWC, the airline will also launch winter seasonal flights to Phuket International Airport (HKT) and Krabi International Airport (KBV) in December 2026.
Seasonal flights to Phuket and Krabi
Departures on the CPH-HKT route will be operated twice-weekly between December 9 and December 30, and March 3 and March 28, 2027, while between January 1 and February 28, 2027, SAS will offer thrice-weekly flights.
The airline will schedule two weekly departures between CPH and KBV. Both airports, located in Thailand, will be served until late March 2027.
“The winter expansion is supported by the addition of two new Airbus A350 aircraft, enabling a 34 percent increase in A350 operations across the network.”
Planespotters.net showed that Airbus delivered one A350-900, registered as SE-RSG, on December 18, 2025. The other aircraft of the type, to be registered as SE-RSH, was spotted at Toulouse Blagnac Airport (TLS) without its engines on the same day, according to Aviation Flights Group.
In addition to HKT and KBV, SAS will also operate up to daily flights to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) in Thailand during the winter season, initially beginning the seasonal itinerary to BKK with five weekly departures, per Cirium’s Diio Mi.
SAS’ return to Dubai
SAS, following a 15-year pause, will return to Dubai, the UAE, on October 25. The airline opted to fly to DWC instead of Dubai International Airport (DXB), which it had served when it last flew from CPH to the Middle Eastern city.
Flights will be operated with its short-haul configured A320neo aircraft that seats up to 172 passengers (180 if all of the middle seats are available), and not the A321LR, which has 22 business, 12 premium economy, and 123 economy class seats.
The departures will be daily, with SAS’ last flight of the season leaving DWC in late March 2027. The flight from CPH to DWC will depart at 23:45 local time (UTC +1) and arrive at DWC at 09:15 local time (UTC +4) the next day. The return flight will depart at 11:00 and arrive at CPH at 15:20.
Slots at DXB
According to Airport Coordination Limited (ACL), a United Kingdom-based slot coordinator that also oversees slots at DXB, as well as DWC, SAS had actually acquired slots at DXB for the previous winter season.
ACL’s report showed that for the winter 2024/2025 season, the Scandinavian carrier asked, and obtained, 306 movements for the duration of the season. However, ACL’s start-of-season report showed that the airline did not proceed with its plans to launch flights from DXB.
The coordinator’s report indicated that during the season, it had no runway capacity to allocate for movements – arrivals and/or departures – on specific days between 05:00 and 08:00, as well as between 14:00 and 00:00.
Meanwhile, DWC offered plenty of capacity for movements during the whole day during the winter 2024/2025 season.
Comments ()