Significant Expansion: An Inside Look At Air Canada’s Plan To Boost Service To India

One of India’s most lucrative international aviation markets is Canada. With thousands of Indians traveling to the country for higher studies and employment opportunities, passenger demand in the India-Canada sector has been steadily rising. Air Canada is ready to take a larger share of the pie this winter season by adding more flights to its India network, including the only nonstop flight between Canada and Mumbai.

Significant winter expansion

Air Canada has announced a significant expansion of its India network out of Canada starting this winter, adding more flights to its existing schedule and also introducing new routes. Starting late October, for the Winter 2024-25 season, Air Canada will introduce the only nonstop from India’s financial capital, Mumbai, to Toronto, improved service from/to Delhi from Western Canada with the introduction of new seasonal daily flights over London Heathrow, and daily flights to Delhi from Montreal.

Mark Galardo, Executive Vice President – Revenue and Network Planning at Air Canada, commented,

“We are thrilled to expand our network from India to Canada by building additional scale at our hubs in time for Diwali festivities this fall. With new non-stop flights from Mumbai – Toronto, the addition of new flights to Calgary from Delhi via London Heathrow, together with the unparalleled connectivity from our robust North American network, we are solidifying Air Canada as the leading airline offering the most travel options between India and Canada.”

Convenient schedule

Once the new winter schedule comes into effect, Air Canada will operate 25 weekly flights representing 7,400 seats each week this winter between India and Canada. These include up to 11 weekly flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Toronto, daily flights from Delhi to Montreal, and daily flights from Delhi to Calgary, Western Canada via London Heathrow.

The airline’s Mumbai-Toronto flight will see the long-range Boeing 777-200LR aircraft, with Air Canada hoping to provide convenient connections from across North America to/from its primary global hub with the following schedule:

Photo: Minh K Tran | Shutterstock

Air Canada’s Calgary-London Heathrow-Delhi flights will be operated by the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The schedule for this service has been optimized for the carrier’s daily Vancouver-London Heathrow flights to connect in London to/from Delhi.

Competing with Air India for nonstop flights

Air Canada and Air India are the only two carriers offering nonstop flights between the two countries. A large chunk of passenger traffic also takes connecting flights via hubs in the Middle East and Europe.

Photo: Eliyahu Yosef Parypa | Shutterstock

As examined by Simple Flying’s route analyst James Pearson recently, Air India has now increased its Toronto to Delhi Boeing 777 flights to a record 10 weekly. Additionally, it operates daily Delhi-Vancouver flights connecting Canada’s west coast. It remains to be seen if the carrier will tweak its winter schedule for Canada now that Air Canada has announced more flights.

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