newstodate.aero

Jan 08, 2020 (newstodate): Air India is mulling plans for adding a new route to Scandinavia.
   According to a source centrally placed in Scandinavia, Air India is currently looking into adding a new Indian destination to its Scandinavian route network, while confirming that this will not replace any of the existing routes.  
   Air India launched flights between Delhi and Stockholm from August 15, 2017, and between Delhi and Copenhagen from September 16, 2017, both served by three weekly rotations using Boeing 787-8 aircraft.
   Market speculations are that the coming new destination in India might be Mumbai.
   Already in November 2018, Divya Gauba, Air India Country Manager Denmark, aired the airline's plans in an interview with newstodate.
   -We are indeed in the planning phase for adding flights between Mumbai and Copenhagen, said Mrs Gauba.  
   -We are convinced that there is a need in the market for this service, but opening a new route requires meticulous preparations to make sure that is commercially viable from the start. After all, opening new routes is hugely costly.
   -Another issue of utmost importance is to obtain suitable slots that are much in demand at Mumbai Airport. This is in itself a most difficult challenge given the growing traffic at the airport serving India's vibrant commercial center.
   Since then, the demise of the Indian carrier Jet Airways on April 17, 2019, has left a number of slots for international routes vacant, relieving the pressure on the slot allocation issue at Mumbai Airport - and maybe opening up for a new Air India route to Scandinavia - or the Nordic region.

   If cargo volumes had a say, a new Air India route into the Nordic markets would pick Helsinki, in Finland, as a new destination. In Q1/2019, volumes carried between Delhi and Helsinki were 1,287 tonnes, between Delhi and Copenhagen 614 tonnes, and between Delhi and Stockholm 471 tonnes.