To facilitate growing economic and tourism ties between Canada and India, Air Canada recently launched the Delhi – Vancouver direct services. The non-stop flights are expected to take 14 hours and 10 minutes, which is the fastest flight time to India from anywhere on North America’s west coast. The route is being served by 787-9 Dreamliner service and offer the shortest elapsed flying time from Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle and Los Angeles to the Indian subcontinent. This is the fastest connection between the two cities, saving up to five hours compared to the other best connections currently available the seasonal, thrice a weekly flight, compliments Air Canada’s Delhi – Toronto services that was launched in the first week of November 2015.
“We are absolutely delighted with the response to our Delhi – Toronto service so far and we have high expectations from the Delhi – Vancouver flights. Our Delhi –Toronto service is becoming a daily service beginning November 6 from the current four times a week service. We expected to do well but its really exceeded our expectations. Consequently, now we have added Vancouver flight and then we will start Toronto – Mumbai in July next year. We are investing heavily in the Indian market. India has been on Air Canada’s plan from a long time as the economy here is doing well now. The opening up of the economy has made us viable but also the fact we are in the process of modernisation of our fleet. The Dreamliner aircraft is the right aircraft for this market,” Margaret Skinner, Director Sales, EMEAI, Air Canada, said.
She also informed that a good connectivity onwards into a number of American cities, with getting the US immigration formalities completed in Toronto or Vancouver is the added advantage for travellers. “Toronto hub is very good for transit and becoming increasingly popular among Indians. We serve 55 destinations now in USA. A customer can clear custom in Canada. We see that USA bound Indian traffic is growing. The transiting at Toronto hub is growing and we have the same expectations from Vancouver also,” she added.
Replying to a question over connecting more cities in India, she said that Air Canada is very focused on these three routes they are bringing in to India. “If all these routes are successful and there is a support from the market, then who knows? We are very bullish about this market. In a year and half, we launched three routes in India. This shows we are very committed to this market and we have high expectations,” she added.
The connectivity to India is part of the Air Canada’s international expansion strategy. “Around 90 per cent of our expansion is coming into international arena. We announced new routes to India. We also added Vancouver –Taipei, Vancouver –Nagoya, Toronto-Berlin and going to many new destinations in 2017.”
She opined that travel trade is very important for Air Canada. “We work hand in hand with travel trade in every market. We get mix of travellers. MICE, leisure and student market is very strong. We have a very good relation with Canadian tourism boards and we work very closely with them,” she said. Canada has emerged as a major destination for Indian students seeking higher education. Some 49,000 Indian students were enrolled in Canada last year, witnessing a rapid rise in their numbers in recent years.
