Air India direct flight to Copenhagen, Denmark

Denmark is world's happiest country and Copenhagen (Capital of Denmark) easily ranks at some of the best cities in the world. I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Copenhagen  3 times so far. First visit was one stop flight via Qatar, second was two stop flight (Chennai-Delhi-Paris-Copenhagen, Copenhagen-Amsterdam-Abu Dhabi-Chennai) and 3^rd was via Frankfurt. Because there was no direct flight between Denmark and India this multi stop flight was unavoidable.

Now there’s some respite. Air India has announced Delhi-Copenhagen direct flights, 3 times a week.

Key details about Air India's Delhi- Copenhagen Flight
Commencing from: 16 Sep 2017
Frequency- 3 days a week (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday)
Approx fare: Economy: INR 45000 onwards (DEL-CPH and back, relatively cheaper than other alternatives), Business Class- 2.3 lakhs onwards for round trip
Flight Timing:  DEL-CPH: 1430-1845 CPH-DEL: 2045-0735 (next day)
Flight duration: 7 hours and 20 mins approx
Aircraft Type: Dreamliner
Cabin options: Only Economy and Business

Some immediate advantages of Air India Delhi-Copenhagen Direct flight

1. Delhi is well connected by all Indian metros, so you can fly to Copenhagen with a short domestic flight and short transit time
2. If you’re close to Delhi, you can fly to Copenhagen even cheaper by taking overnight train to Delhi
3. If you have Denmark issued Schengen visa, it is lot convenient now to land in Copnehagen and then fly onward to other Schengen destinations
4. In case of scenarios like flight delays, missed connections may be you’re better off being in Indian soil than get stuck in some transit airport.
5. Very convenient timing: With carriers like Emirates, Lufthansa etc usually you’ll have to take a midnight/very early morning flight to their hubs, wait a few hours for connecting flight and then reach CPH by afternoon/evening. With Air India’s afternoon departure, you can start from your origin city in the morning, reach Delhi by noon, connect to afternoon flight, reach same day evening and will have enough time to prepare for work/leisure activities next day.
6. Easier connectivity to some of the northern Europe/Scandinavian destinations like Iceland, Bergen, Oslo etc
7. Relatively cheaper: Air India's current fares are cheaper than (or at par with) any other alternative to reach Copenhagen from India

Risk: Air India is not known for its on time performance. If you’re origin city is not Delhi, you will have to keep lots of buffer time for domestic leg, as your flight to Delhi from your city carriers a high risk of delays due to various reasons such as politicians delaying flight, late arrival of incoming flight-which could be international as well and so on. If you keep very tight connection time you might end up missing the flight that day and lose a day in the process.

Copenhagen key tips:

• Local currency: DKK (1 DKK= 10 INR approx)
• Transport From CPH airport: Take Metro to city, will be lot cheaper than taxi. Taxi to city can easily cross 200 DKK, Metro costs about 36 to 48 DKK depending on zones you cross.
• Zone system: Public transportation in Copenhagen has a zone system that you need to understand before buying tickets- full details in this post.
• Best places to stay: Hostels and Hotels available to suit all budget ranges. Stay closer to Copenhagen Central for best connectivity or in Frediksberg area for quiet residential neighborhood. You can use below widget to search more. 
• Indian food in Copenhagen: Available. Details here- Indian Restaurants in Copenhagen, 
• Best time to visit Denmark: March to September is usually summer time and ideal to visit Denmark. October onwards winter kicks in, most attractions either close down or operate with reduced timings.

What to do/see in Copenhagen?

Copenhagen has lots of places of interest- within city and nearby. You can read all my posts on Denmark here. Some select tips given below

Within Copenhagen City limits:

1. Round Tower
2. Tivoli Amusement park
3. Bakken- world's oldest amusement park
4. Frederiksberg Garden
5. The little Mermaid (Copenhagen's signature landmark)
6. Rosenborg Castle near Norreport
7. Botanical Garden
8. Kastellet (A star shaped fortress near Esplanaden)

Day visit/weekend trips from Copenhagen

1. Roskilde
2. Malmo, Sweden
3. Helsingborg, Sweden (Check all my Sweden posts here)
4. Helsignor, Denmark
5. Frederiksborg Castle 

Other short haul destinations

From Copenhagen you can take overnight cruise to Oslo (Norway) or bus/train to Berlin and Prague or Amsterdam or hop on a short flight to almost anywhere in northern/central Europe, particularly Schengen areas without further visa worries. Try momondo.com for fares.

Above: with Indian ambassador to Denmark, at Indian Embassy in Copenhagen during Independence Day celebrations, 2015- More details here

What about South Indian travelers?

While those based in and around NCR or nearby states can take immediate advantage of Air India’s direct flight to Copenhagen, what about those in South India- say Mumbai, BLR, Chennai etc? I think South Indian travelers might still prefer the conventional way- one stop flight via Dubai or Doha or Frankfurt or Paris etc and connect to Copenhagen. But if timing and fare is good, I guess they will consider flying to Delhi and connecting to Air India’s direct flight to Copenhagen. Indian travelers have their own set of perception about Air India that probably won’t allow to prefer Air India over Emirates or Lufthansa other international airlines, particularly if they're traveling on work and company is paying. What do you prefer?

I wish all the best to Air India’s direct flight to Copenhagen. Hope to make use of it someday.

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