Air India had to drop several of its international flights after the onset of the COVID pandemic. Several of the airline’s European routes were hacked, and the Delhi-Copenhagen non-stop service was among them.

Now, after almost three years, Air India has started flying this route again. The airline resumed its non-stop service on the Delhi-Copenhagen-Delhi sector from March 1st, with flights from Delhi operating thrice a week on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

Flight AI157 departs Delhi at 1330, arriving in Copenhagen at 1750. The return flight AI158 takes off at 1950 from Copenhagen and arrives in Delhi at 0740 the next day. Air India uses its Dreamliner for this service featuring a two-class cabin configuration comprising 18 business class and 236 economy class seats. Nipun Aggarwal, Chief Commercial and Transformation Officer at Air India, commented,

“A key element of Air India’s Vihaan.AI transformation is considerably improving connectivity between India’s major cities and major global destinations. Resuming this non-stop service from Delhi to Copenhagen, following the relaunch of the flights between Delhi and Vienna, affirms our commitment to develop a major international hub in India’s capital.”

Bringing them back

With the latest flight resumption to Copenhagen, Air India’s India-Europe frequency has increased to 79 non-stop flights per week. While it never stopped flying to big European hubs such as London, Paris, and Frankfurt, Air India only recently resumed services to other cities, including Milan and Vienna.

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On February 18th, the airline resumed non-stop flights between Delhi and Vienna. Flight AI153 operates on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from Delhi, taking off at 14:35 and arriving in Vienna at 18:45. The Milan service was launched on February 1st and operates four times a week on Wednesdays, Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays.

The Copenhagen service, in particular, has been kept in mind to cater to the demand of corporate travelers, the student community, and the Indian diaspora in general.

 

Revising the network

Among the many things that have seen significant changes in Air India after privatization is its network. The new owners are keen to optimize the carrier’s domestic and international network, removing loss-making routes and bringing back those where there is demand.

Last year, Air India decided to double down on metro-to-metro routes while thinning out its presence on many non-metro sectors where it competes with several budget carriers. Similarly, it started the Mumbai-San Francisco service in December as well as the Mumbai-JFK flight in February after four years.

 

Air India was previously limited by a lack of aircraft, many of which were grounded due to a lack of funds. With many of them back in service and some new ones joining the fleet, the airline is in a much better position to revise and expand its network.