Two Interesting Fifth Freedom Routes Out Of Stockholm
Fifth freedom routes are the most interesting existence of commercial aviation flights.It basically meant for the right that allows an airline to carry revenue traffic between foreign countries as a part of services connecting the airline's own country.
Across international airports and between major airlines in the world it's very common to see such routes being operated.
Airlines like Singapore operates many of their North American routes out of Hong Kong due to the lack of aircraft type to fly such long distance, however for flyers in Scandinavia, it's relatively rare to see such flights being operated at one of the big 3 hub airports. I've come across some interesting routes when I was researching on flight options. Here's the only 2 fifth freedom routes in Scandinavia that are both operated by Star Alliance members, and coincidently they both fly from Stockholm.
Ethiopian Airlines
Stockholm - Oslo - Stockholm
Ethiopian Airlines has launched five weekly flights from Addis Abba to Oslo from 29th May 2017 where a technical stop in Stockholm will be part of the itinerary.
Flight ET0714 (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday)
23:50 Addis Ababa - (+1) 6:40 Stockholm
7:40 Stockholm - 8:45 Oslo
Flight ET0715 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday)
19:45 Oslo - 20:50 Stockholm
21:50 Stockholm - (+1) 6:20 Addis Ababa
Aircraft: Boeing 787 Dreamliner 246 Economy Class seats and 27 Business Class seats
You can find economy class tickets for 81Euro return or around 429Euro return in business class which requires 3+ day stay.
Ethiopia is operating this flight as a continuation of their Addis Ababa to Stockholm and Oslo flight, be careful here as you will have to clear custom at both airports even though you are in Schengen as the aircraft stops only outside Schengen international areas in order to deplane and board passengers.
You can find everything about their business class product here on their website:
Singapore Airlines
Singapore is based on the other side of the global, so fifth freedom routes aren't rare for them as they provide industry leading hard product and deliver excellent service standards.Five times weekly flights to Stockholm was introduced from 30 May 2017 and it's operated by an A350.
Moscow-Stockholm-Moscow
SQ362 00:20 Singapore - 06:00 Moscow Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
SQ362 07:15 Moscow - 08:25 Stockholm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
SQ361 10:25 Stockholm - 13:30 Moscow Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
SQ361 15:05 Moscow - 06:20(+1)Singapore Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
You can find flights from Stockholm to Moscow on Singapore Airlines from 147Euro return in economy or around 500Euro return in business which I highly recommend. Why? Find out everything about their A350 business class on their website here:
You can also find more information about their revolutionised new First Class Suite product which I've written about here:
Bottom Line:
This is surprisingly interesting as SAS doesn't really follow much of industry trends this days, and we keep hearing about exciting new products from other countries and now you too, can get a taste of it. Although it can be very nice to try out these routes, prices for these tickets are definitely not cheap, so combining with a long haul ticket is the way to go.
Any suggestions?
