Air Canada to Offer Toronto-Delhi Service, with Boeing 787s

Air Canada has announced it will launch four-times-weekly, non-stop service between Toronto and Delhi on November 1, 2015.

The new route will be the first to be operated primarily by Air Canada’s Boeing 787-9 widebodies, according to the airline. The Indian subcontinent is currently the largest international market not served by Air Canada.

Air Canada’s first Boeing 787 Dreamliner, operating flight AC7008 as its delivery flight from Boeing’s Everett widebody-assembly and delivery facility, lands at Toronto’s Pearson Airport on May 18, 2014

“We will be offering the only non-stop flight from Canada to India using our newest Boeing 787 Dreamliners, which are revolutionizing long-haul air travel,” says Calin Rovinescu, president and chief executive officer of Air Canada.

“The operating economics of these new aircraft make this service feasible and it will be the first route dedicated to the larger, 787-9 version of this aircraft, which begin entering our fleet in 2015,” adds Rovinescu.

However, while Boeing 787-9s will operate three of the four weekly round-trips, Air Canada’s schedule for the service calls for one round-trip each week to be operated by a slightly smaller Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.

After a pre-delivery test flight, Air Canada Boeing 787-8 C-GHPQ lands at Paine Field at Everett in Washington, the site of Boeing’s main widebody final-assembly and delivery facility

Tickets for the new service will be available for purchase from December 9.

Its Toronto-Delhi flights are timed for convenient connections both within Air Canada’s North American network and in India on fellow Star Alliance carrier Air India or other interline partners to such cities as Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, and to other destinations throughout Southeast Asia, according to Air Canada.

The carrier’s schedule for its Toronto-Delhi Service calls for flight AC050 to depart Toronto Pearson International Airport (IATA code YYZ) at 8:55 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from November 1 and arrive at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) at 9:15 p.m. the following evening, local time.

C-GHPQ, a Boeing 787-8, was the first Boeing 787 to be delivered to Air Canada, the aircraft landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport on May 18, 2014. Air Canada became the second North American airline to put Boeing 787s into operation

Air Canada’s schedule for the service will see a Boeing 787-8, rather than a Boeing 787-9, operating the Monday departure.

In the other direction, flight AC051 will leave DEL at 12:45 a.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays,Thursdays and Sundays from November 3 and will touch down at YYZ at 5:00 a.m. the same day, local time.

Wednesday departures will be operated by Boeing 787-8s, not 787-9s.

Including Delhi, Air Canada serves or has announced service to a total of 65 international destinations on five continents from its Toronto hub.