New Delhi: Air India has announced non-stop flight services between Delhi and Stockholm, starting from August 15, 2017.
The flights will operate thrice a week -- Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays - with each flight roughly having eight-hour duration.
Making the announcement, Ashwani Lohani, Chairman and Managing Director of Air India said, "As part of Air India's international route network expansion plans, we are happy to announce the Delhi-Stockholm direct flight from August 15, 2017. The flight will be operated thrice a week on Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft."
The flight will depart from Delhi at 1400 hrs (IST) and arrive in Stockholm at 1820 hrs (CET). The return flight will leave Stockholm at 2100 hrs (CET)and reach Delhi the next morning.
"This comes at a very positive time in our relations and will continue to strengthen our partnership for the future. We appreciate the importance it will have for our bilateral relations, especially for
people-to-people relations, for tourism in both directions, for students and for business and investment," said Ann Linde, Minister for EU Affairs and Trade, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Govt. of Sweden, who is currently on a two-day visit to India.
Incoming traffic from India to Sweden has grown over the years. In 2016, Sweden had 175,088 bednights (commercial overnight stays) from India as per the statistics from Tillvaxtverket (the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth) which was 128% up from the bednights registered in 2011.
"For us, India is a market with great potential for Swedish Tourism. During the last five years more and more Indians chose Sweden as their holiday destination. Beautiful nature, unique experiences such as the Northern lights, and its progressive lifestyle makes Sweden an exciting emerging destination for Indian travelers. We look forward to a further growth of the tourism from India to Sweden," said ?Kristina Ösund, interim CEO at Visit Sweden.