Air Canada, the sole Canadian operator of flights between India and Canada for the moment, is going to pull the plug on its flight between Vancouver, on the Canadian west coast and Delhi, India, on the back of the Russian war on Ukraine, as well as the rising fuel prices. Air Canada follows in the footsteps of United, which has been forced to take its flight between SFO-DEL and EWR-BOM off the network, for the time being, because of its inability to fly over the hostile zone. Air India continues to use said airspace and fly to the US West Coast in the meantime.

Air Canada suspends flights between Vancouver and Delhi effective June 1, 2022

Air Canada, which used to operate the 13.5-14 hour long flight between Vancouver and Delhi (AC44) and return flight AC45 (13-13.5 hours) using a Boeing 787-9, has had to do a fuel stop at Dublin airport ever since the war started, adding about 4 hours to the outward leg. It turns out they are not planning to use this option forever. And so, they are pulling this flight effective June 1, 2022.

Look here at the availability on May 31, 2022, and then June 1, 2022. On June 1, the flights are not direct.

 

The non-stop flight is slotted to return to operations effective September 6, 2022, as of now.

As per a statement from Air Canada, published by The Times of India,

(Vancouver-Delhi) route is operationally constrained as a result of extended flying times and a required refuelling stop due to the current flight paths taken to go around Russian and Ukraine airspace. Summer wind and weather conditions in South Asia are expected to compound these constraints, making the route unviable during this period.

Affected customers on Air Canada’s flights from Vancouver to Delhi from June 2 until September 6 (June 4 to September 8 from Delhi to Vancouver) will be automatically re-scheduled on alternate flights to final destinations without additional fees.

During this period, Air Canada will continue to operate up to 11 weekly flights between Canada and India from its gateways in Toronto (daily) and Montreal (up to four times weekly) as these routes utilise different flight paths.

Air Canada remains committed to the India market and will be resuming flights on the Vancouver non-stop route beginning September 6 from Vancouver and September 8 from Delhi. Air Canada continues to monitor global situations very closely and may reinstate its Vancouver-Delhi route earlier if conditions permit.

Bottomline

Air Canada will remove the Vancouver – Delhi flight for three months, starting June 1, 2022, and intends to return in September 2022 with a direct/non-stop offering. Of course, this depends on the geopolitical circumstances getting any better by then.

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