Air Canada announced on Wednesday that direct flights between Vancouver and New Delhi will be suspended for three months, citing the Ukraine conflict as one of the reasons.
Air Canada said the suspension of flights will begin on June 2 for those flying from Vancouver to Delhi and from June 4 for the return and continue till early September.
The route, it said, had become “operationally constrained” due to the “extended flying times and a refueling stop that is required due to the current flight paths taken to go around Russian and Ukraine airspace”.
Furthermore, summer wind and weather conditions in South Asia are expected to compound these constraints, it noted, making the route “unviable during this period”.
Because they fly across Russia and Ukraine, the affected flights primarily depart from Canada’s west coast. Air Canada’s direct flights from the east coast, including Toronto and Montreal, will not be affected as these take different flight paths. Air Canada has as many as 11 such flights to India from these two gateways.
Air Canada said it remains committed to the India market and is targeting resumption of the flights from Vancouver on September 6 and from Delhi on September 8. It said the airline “continues to monitor global situations very closely and may reinstate its Vancouver-Delhi route earlier if conditions permit”.
