AI plans more international flights, Copenhagen on radar

Preparing to expand its international presence, Air India is actively looking at starting flights to the Scandinavian region.
"After Madrid, we are actively looking at Scandinavian region to expand our international presence. We are mulling to launch either Copenhagen (Denmark) or Stockholm (Sweden) by the middle of 2017...," Air India Director (Commercial) Pankaj Srivastava said here today.
The national carrier, which is working on ways to revive its fortunes, would be launching its direct services to Madrid, Spain from tomorrow.
Speaking at a function to mark the launch of Madrid flight, he said the airline is also looking at flights to Hong Kong from Mumbai.

However, the launch of such a service would depend on the availability of slots, he added.
Air India has plans to increase the frequency of its services to Melbourne and Sydney (Australia) to five flights per week as well as to Shanghai (China) to seven from five at present.

"As part of international operations expansion plans, we are also planning to connect India with Tel Aviv and Tanzania and Kenya in West Africa," Srivastava said.
Earlier this year, Air India had launched Ahmedabad- London- Newark flight, apart from Delhi-Vienna services.
On November 27, Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani said the airline had great expansion plans.

"Madrid connection starts on 1st Dec (December) to be followed by another, at least six new connections in 2017. Great expansion plans for Air India," he had said in a tweet.
Currently, Air India flies to 71 domestic and 42 international destinations.