Air Canada launched Toronto to Delhi in 2015 as a non-stop flight. There was also an Air Canada Vancouver – Delhi non-stop flight started seasonally in 2016, which they repeated in 2017 as a seasonal flight again. They made Delhi to Vancouver flight year round from June 2, 2018. Air Canada will make it daily from June 2019. They subsequently added a flight between Toronto and Mumbai in 2017.
Air Canada currently operates Mumbai to Toronto flights four times a week using a Boeing 777-200LR with the following schedule,
AC 046 YYZ2040-2205(+1)BOM 77L x246
AC 047 BOM2345-0525(+1)YYZ 77L x357
Air Canada had launched this route with a Boeing 787-9 which used to operate three times a week. So this represents a capacity increase regarding frequency. Can’t say the same for aircraft. Air Canada’s Boeing 777-200LR has 40 Business Class seats, 24 Premium Economy seats and 236 Economy seats. The Boeing 787-9, on the other hand, has 30 Business class seats, 21 Premium Economy seats and 247 Economy class seats.
It does not seem like that the flight did very well for Air Canada. I pulled up the data over the past three reported quarters, and it showed a terrible picture.
Source: DGCA
If you look at the statistics, the passenger numbers were deficient. Only January to March 2018 quarter performed well. So it comes as no surprise that they are going to stop operating this route. Air Canada has announced that the last of this flight will be performed on March 30, 2019.
What bothers me are 2 two things:
- Air Canada could have operated the route seasonally. They did the same with New Delhi to Vancouver before making it year round.
- If the figures were so low, why add a fourth weekly rotation? Air Canada has added a fourth weekly rotation before axing the route.
Bottomline
With this cancellation, Mumbai loses an important Star Alliance flight. The flight was the only nonstop flight to Canada from Mumbai, and that should be the end of Air Canada’s operations out of Mumbai altogether.
Did you travel on Air Canada’s Mumbai to Toronto flight? How was your experience? More importantly, how were the loads on the plane?
This flt should operate all year round to Mumbai. People are requesting for a direct flt specially students and elderly. The departure and arrival time is excellent. Service on board is great. Food quality could improve.specially Tor/Bom sector.
Kindly reconsider operation of this direct flt at least thrice a week. The load will increase once started.
Flown this flight a few times. Mostly during winter or fall. Love it. To not have it during the summer holidays July -Sep is not a good move. This is easily the most underrated flight and has the potential to become a super busy daily route if they actively push their code share flights in South India. Etihad and Lufthansa are gaining most of that traffic.
Flew twice in2017 and 2018. The plane was packed, service was great. I loved the timing and the convenience.
I hope they keep it operational.
Canada has a ridiculous transit visa policy for India. I never flew this flight exactly for the same reason. I fly to the US atleast 5x per year and have always flown QR or EK in business. Mumbai-Toronto connection would have been fantastic if Canada had a better transit visa policy.
I found the delhi- toronto-delhi flight to be excellent for my kids studying in canada. very convenient for kids n I could sleep in peace knowing once they boarded , the flight will only land at final dest.
Was surprised to hear from my daughter the her flight has been re-routed via vancouver ( 3 july 2019) . I paid extra money to book a direct flight at time of booking and now the kids have to change flights at vancouver and duration of flight is much longer.
Air canada should at least compensate for this inconvenience & mental tirtute.
Flew on this excellent flight. Timings were lovely.
Service superb. Pained to know that Air Canada has closed this sector. With a little tweaking in prices, this route would have been a very profitable one.
non stop flights are always great, hope AC resumes this sector. a bit of more dynamic pricing would see all the classes full, if load and not logistics is the issue. Very conveniently timed flight and inflight services.
I like the flight and it may be true that it may not have passengers round the year but it must go on during October to March every year. I travelled in 2016, 2017 and 2019.
This was packed flight all the 6 time. Good Services and above all convenience.
I flew on AC047 on February 25 from Mumbai to Toronto and I loved it. The flight was totally full, the service was excellent, the food was amazing and I loved the fact that it was a night flight from Mumbai and landed in Toronto early morning which allowed me to get to work by 9 AM.
I don’t understand how such flights don’t get enough passengers. Sad!
You must be new to flying or you have not yet tried any other carriers yet.. AC has the worst food and service of the lot.
Loved the convenience of the non stop flight to Mumbai and the timing was perfect on both sectors arrival and departure.. PLEASE START IT AGAIN…maybe with less frequency. The business class is worth the extra ….dont leave your money to the kids they will fly business class if you dont..this was an add on BA many years ago..words of wisdom
Hi, we flew Toronto Mumbai last July 2018. Was looking forward yo direct Mumbai toronto trip this June2019. Will miss the direct flight.
WISH AC WILL NOT DISCONTINUE AC 046/47 direct service to Mumbai.
Mumbai is an important India destination. AC shud operate this flight twice weekly. Volume will build. Compete in rates to get business. OR consider direct flight to Chennai twice a week. Lots of South Indians and Srilankans will prefer this.
Loved the Toronto Mumbai direct flight. Entire service is great. This flight should be kept seasonal. Seniors and young crowd loves this flight. Going to miss if the sector is closed by AC
Their big issue is pricing. Air Canada economy class pricing was competitive but business class was 30% higher for my trip. Ended up taking a Middle East airline that was packed to the rafters in business class. I would pay extra for the convenience on a 14+ hour flight but not 2000 dollars. Air Canada get more competitive and don’t expect a premium while you build your volume.
The Twitter feed of airlineroute indicates that, yes, this route will become seasonal.
Route closes after upcoming winter season.
Reservations reopen on/after 27 Oct 2019.
Does this mean they will close their office & operations in Mumbai?
It’s going to be seasonal. It’s not cancelled outright.
According to their Q3 Investor Relations conference call, the Vancouver-Delhi route has simply performed better, so it was made year-round. This is essentially a trade in overall India capacity.
Now, the Vancouver route’s success is somewhat surprising given that YVR-DEL is essentially just VFR with little or no business component–in fact Vancouver is basically a leisure travel station, with the main HNW travellers being real estate tycoons to/from China. On the other hand, YYZ-BOM must have had some corporate travel component, and the overall market size is not small at all–nearly 100K roundtrip.
I think that after a few years, the flight will return year-around as India’s economic growth drives more business travel.
I called up Air Canada call centre . They said that the flight will be seasonal ie only during winter.
Had been in this flight last year. The loads were good though not so great. It takes time for such ULH to become popular.
Would have done better if they released some saver business awards to star alliance. With air India out of jfk and Newark never having any availability they could have filled some empty seats for mileage passengers. Still not to late Air Canada !!