Air Canada is bullish on driving growth from the India market through its newly commenced Mumbai-Toronto direct flight – the only non-stop service on this route. The flag carrier of Canada, which had earlier launched its Delhi-Vancouver seasonal flight, expects to clock 16.3 billion revenue in 2017 and aims to achieve 20 billion revenue mark by 2020. At a media interaction in Mumbai today, Duncan Bureau, vice president – global sales, Air Canada, said, “We are one of the fastest growing airline in the world. The response to our Mumbai-Toronto flight has been good and we have witnessed a good amount of advance bookings. We are confident of our growth in the India market and we have received good support from the business fraternity here.”
The Mumbai-Toronto service operates four times a week, on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. With this development, Air Canada now offers three Boeing 787 Dreamliner routes between th two countries. The airline additionally operates a year-round daily Delhi-Toronto flight. Its seasonal Delhi-Vancouver flight will resume in October.
“We are committed to the India market and we are constantly looking to further expand our presence in the country. In line with that, we are also in discussions with several airports. Our promotional strategy in India includes partnerships and the GSAs. We have been been witnessing good business from our associates here,” added Bureau.
Visitor footfall from India to Canada has seen a growth of 16 per cent last year, of which a significant proportion includes students and families. Shedding more light on tourism and trade areas, Nadir Patel, high commissioner, High Commission of Canada in Delhi, said, “This is a significant year for bilateral relations between India and Canada and the launch of this flight is an important part of that. There has also been increase in Canadian visa applications in India last year.”
In order to grow its overall business, Air Canada is leveraging upon its non-stop services and its positioning as North America’s sole four-star carrier.
