Tag Archives: Norway

VFS Global is re-opening Visa Application Centres in some cities for specific visa categories. Countries for which visa services will resume are United Kingdom (from July 6), Italy (July 3), UAE, Turkey, Ireland, Belarus, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Norway, Portugal and South Korea. Applicants will have to schedule an appointment in advance on www.vfsglobal.com. After specific Embassies/Consulates as well as local authorities have given their approval, VFS Global’s centres will accept visa applications for select countries with strict health and hygiene SOPs in place.

In an attempt to engage the travel trade and provide a platform to meet Scandinavian partners from Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the Scandinavian Tourist Board organised a roadshow in Delhi with 28 Scandinavian partners and seven DMCs from the Nordic countries. The annual event will be held in Bengaluru next and conclude in Mumbai. Briefing about the development of tourism in Scandinavian countries, Mohit Batra, India Representative, Scandinavian Tourist Board said that there has been a tremendous growth in the number of Indians travelling to Denmark, Norway and Sweden. “We are closely approaching 500,000 room nights in 2018 looking at the figures we have till now. We have seen a surge in every segment, be they FITs, groups or MiCE,” he informed.  

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has awarded VFS Global an extension to its global contract for visa processing services in four regions – Asia and Oceania, Europe and Russia, Middle East and Africa, and the Americas. VFS Global currently operates 101 Visa Application Centres across 39 countries for Norway. VFS processes approximately 260,000 Norway visa applications globally each year and travellers from China, Russia, Thailand and India account for most of the inbound traffic into Norway. Chris Dix, Head – Business Development, VFS Global, remarked, “We are delighted to continue our partnership with the Norwegian government. This is not only commercially important for VFS Global, but also in demonstrating the Norwegian government’s trust in VFS, further reinforcing our company’s position as the leading  visa services partner to Schengen member states and to 57 client governments worldwide.” The Royal Norwegian Government reported the country’s tourism industry had another record year in 2016, following strong growth in the number of visitors in 2015. Figures compiled by Statistics Norway show average annual growth in the number of foreign visitors to Norway has exceeded the international average since 2010.

Flag carrier Air India has announced direct flights between New Delhi and Copenhagen thereby adding its 11th destination in Europe. Starting from September 16, these flights will operate thrice a week. “We aim to serve 37,500 passengers each way for the entire year. If we touch that figure then we will make it a daily service,” Ashwani Lohani, Chairman and Managing Director, Air India, reportedly said at an event. This is the third international flight launched by the national carrier this year, besides services to Washington from July 7 and to Stockholm from August 16, Lohani added. In his Facebook post last month, the CMD had also announced plans to connect Los Angeles from September 1 as well as Tel Aviv, Nairobi and Dallas this year. In 2016, traffic between the two countries grew by 10.1 per cent, according to a statement issued by the Embassy of Denmark. The number of visas to Denmark issued in India increased by 20 per cent compared to the year before, the statement added. Copenhagen airport is the third busiest airport in northern Europe and averaged 726 daily departures and arrivals in 2016 and served a total of 29 million passengers. (Source: PTI)

Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Ivan Chu and Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of the Lufthansa Group, signed a new co-operation agreement that will see the airline code share on flights operated by Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines to a number of destinations in Continental Europe. Reciprocally, the Lufthansa Group will codeshare on Cathay Pacific services to four of the airline’s most popular destinations in Southwest Pacific. Under the agreement, Cathay Pacific will offer 14 new destinations in Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Norway, Italy, Switzerland and Austria with the “CX” code placed on the following services operated by airlines in the Lufthansa Group. The Lufthansa Group will place its airlines’ codes on services operated by Cathay Pacific between Hong Kong and Auckland as well as between Hong Kong and Cairns, Melbourne and Sydney. Under a single booking, passengers from Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Zurich will be able to check through and seamlessly transfer to their final destination in Auckland or Australia via Hong Kong International Airport. The agreement extends to both airlines’ frequent flyer programmes. Tickets for the new code-share destinations will be available for sale from 5 April 2017 for travel commencing from 26 April 2017.