(Bloomberg) -- Sweden’s SAS AB and LOT Polish Airlines are giving up service to China, joining a growing list of European carriers retreating from the world’s second-biggest aviation market.
SAS, the owner of Scandinavian Airlines, is suspending flights between Copenhagen and Shanghai “due to current market conditions,” the company said in a statement. The last available flight on the route is on Nov. 7, according to SAS’s website.
LOT decided to cancel flights to Beijing during the winter season, citing “unsatisfactory booking results and a significantly weaker competitive position compared to carriers using shorter routes.” The airline said in a statement that it will contact customers to offer alternative options.
Routes from Europe to China have become less attractive for European carriers, who are forced to fly around Russian airspace following the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Ukraine’s airspace has also been closed since then. That’s given Chinese rivals, who have maintained the more direct flight paths over Russia, an advantage in terms of cost and hours in the air.
SAS’s retreat leaves Finland’s Finnair Oyj as the only other Nordic country with direct China flights. Now under the co-ownership of Air France-KLM and private equity firm Castlelake LP, SAS joins Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. in exiting China altogether, while British Airways and Deutsche Lufthansa AG are cutting flights to Beijing.
The withdrawals to China are not limited to Europe. In Southeast Asia, three of the Philippines major airlines have reduced or pulled flights to China outright. Flights between the US and China also remain capped at about a quarter of pre-pandemic levels.
(Updates to add LOT Polish Airlines cuts from first paragraph.)
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