Air Canada resumes direct flights to India

After an interval, Air Canada is resuming direct flights to India, flying non-stop from Toronto to New Delhi four times a week starting November 2 this year.

Duncan Bureau, vice president, global sales, Air Canada, told reporters in Bengaluru that the airline will fly the Boeing 787-900 aircraft, which has the right mix of passenger configuration to make travel on the route profitable.

He said the airline has configured seating to provide 29 seats in business class, 21 in premium economy, and 247 seats in the economy class. “For us, the big difference between when we operated here historically and what we are doing with this new service is the capability of the aircraft. The 787-900 is a state-of-the art aircraft. Until we had the 900 in place it was very difficult to be profitable here,” he said. Bureau said Air Canada currently flies only the Boeing 787-800 series and the first delivery in the 787-900 series is being pressed into the New Delhi service.

In reply to another question, he said Air Canada’s conservative board had calculated a fuel price of $95/barrel while forecasting prices, and the airline will not revise its plans to resume its India operations even if crude oil prices were to reverse their declines between now and November. He also said the airline is planning to quickly expand the frequency of the flights to daily from four a week.

Sidney Frank, Consul General, Consulate General of Canada in Bengaluru, who also attended the event, said that last year, 1,75,000 Indians travelled to Canada, which was a 19 per cent growth over the previous year.

He said indications are that a similar growth is anticipated this year as well. Bureau said with the start of the service, anticipated annual growth in 2016 would be in the 25-30 per cent range.

The consul general said the Bengaluru consulate started issuing visas from September 2014 and that currently only temporary resident visas catering to visitors, students and temporary workers are being issued.

In answer to another question, he said the standard visa processing time is two weeks, although 10-year multiple entry visas are issued to those who have visited Canada or US before. “Unlike the UK and the US, we don’t capture biometrics, so people don't have to visit the consulate. Unlike the US, there’s no interview requirement either,” Frank said.
DH News Service