SAS to add Boeing 737 flights between Houston and Norway

Ben Mutzabaugh | USA TODAY

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) announced Monday that it would add nonstop service to Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport. But SAS' new Texas service will go to the Norwegian city of Stavanger, bypassing the carrier's main hubs of Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo.

SAS also will not operate a traditional long-haul widebody jet on the route. Instead, SAS will fly its Houston- Stavanger route with a "business version" of a Boeing 737-700. The jet will have just 44 seats and "will have an SAS Long Haul Business Class concept on board … along with a modern in-flight entertainment system and full-service meals," SAS says in a statement.

The airline says its new route "is in direct response to requests from leading players in the oil and gas industry, asking for better connections between Norway, the rest of Scandinavia, and Houston."

"The route we have established is a tailored product for a defined market with particular travel needs," SAS CEO Rickard Gustafson says in the company's statement.

The service is set to begin Aug. 20, "just ahead of the major oil exhibition in Stavanger," according to SAS. Stavanger, in southwestern Norway, is one of the bigger cities in an region that includes Norway's lucrative North Sea oil reserves.

SAS – which will become the only carrier to fly nonstop between Houston and Scandinavia – will fly one round-trip flight on the route every day except Saturday.

"The favorable timetable provides excellent connections throughout Scandinavia in both directions, while Houston is a hub for connections to the south and west such as Mexico, Los Angeles, Dallas and Phoenix with the Star Alliance," Gustafson says.

As for the 737-700 SAS will use on the route, the carrier says it has entered into a wet lease agreement with private business carrier PrivatAir. The Switzerland-based company will lease its international business version of the 737 to SAS. The jet will fly in the own colors and logo of SAS.

As you would expect, the new service was lauded by Houston officials.

"Houston enjoys a well-deserved reputation as the 'energy capital of the world,' " Houston Mayor Annise Parker says in a statement from the Houston Airport System. "The arrival of Scandinavian Airlines to Houston will allow us to strengthen that role even more moving forward and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with our new partners."