Air Canada announces expansion of its flight network to India by increasing seat capacity

Ottawa: Canada’s largest airline, Air Canada, on Monday announced the expansion of its flight network to India, adding 40 per cent more seat capacity beginning late October for the coming winter 2024-25 season.

The country’s flag carrier said it will operate 25 weekly flights with 7,400 seats each week this winter from Canada to India, comprising up to 11 weekly flights. These include flights from Toronto to Delhi and Mumbai, daily flights from Montreal to Delhi and daily flights to Delhi from Western Canada via London Heathrow.

Air Canada in an official press release said the new services include the only non-stop flight from Canada to Mumbai, improved service from Western Canada to Delhi with the introduction of new daily flights over London’s Heathrow Airport and daily flights from Montreal to Delhi.

The carrier will operate 25 weekly flights to India, the most comprehensive offering of any airline between Canada and India.

“India is an important market for Air Canada, reflecting longstanding and growing family and trade ties between our two countries. We are thrilled to expand our network to Mumbai and Delhi by building additional scale at our hubs in time for Diwali festivities this fall," Mark Galardo, Executive Vice President, Revenue and Network Planning at Air Canada, said.

“With new non-stop flights from Toronto to Mumbai, the addition of new flights to Delhi from Western Canada 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 Canada and India,” Galardo said in a statement.

The Toronto-Mumbai flight, the only non-stop flight linking two of the largest cities in both countries, will be operated with Boeing 777-200LR aircraft, the release said.

The Indian diaspora in Canada is about 1.8 million strong. There are another one million Non-Resident Indians living in the country.

Ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations in September last year of the 'potential' involvement of Indian agents in the killing of a Khalistani separatist in this country.

New Delhi rejected Trudeau's charges as 'absurd'. India has been maintaining that the main issue has been that of Canada giving space to pro-Khalistani elements operating from Canadian soil with impunity.