The Hindu Business Line : Air Canada looking beyond New Delhi

With the Toronto-New Delhi-Toronto sector working "very well", senior executives of the airline maintain that the company is keenly looking at expansion of the market to include points such as Mumbai in the immediate turn and others down the line. But no formal discussions to this effect are currently under way it is said.

The daily Toronto-New Delhi flight is the only non-stop air link between North America and India with the overflights rights obtained from Russia enabling the carrier to save about three-and-a-half hours in each direction. The airline is currently using the long haul, latest 282-seater Airbus A-340 for its operations to and from New Delhi.

Airline executives here make the point that the timing of the flight is designed to ensure not only convenience but also a range of connecting flights to and from major Canadian, American and Indian destinations such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore — even to Columbo.

The temporary agreement with Russia that ended on February 29 has paved the way for a more permanent arrangement as of last week. The absence of the "North Path" over Russia would have meant more time and more fuel, both translating into higher costs, airline executives said here.

From the perspective of the Toronto-New Delhi sector it is pointed out that 40 per cent of the passengers are connecting from the US, the remainder about evenly split between the greater Tornoto area and the rest of Canada.

Air Canada's re-entry into the Indian market last year is only in line with what is generally taking place in the realm of bilateral relations over the last few years. With the growing trade potential, Air Canada is also keen on getting into the "act". The market and the capability to have a routing without a stop meant that it was "time to start", airline executives here said.

The fragmented North America-South Asia airline market is seeing a lot of competition from Atlantic carriers that operate out of the East Coast and Asian carriers that seek to dominate the West Coast.

Air Canada like many of the major North American carriers is currently under what is known as Chapter 11 or bankruptcy proceedings but has moved ahead with major restructuring and is expected to come out of the present situation by May this year.

A number of factors forced Air Canada into that tight squeeze — a general decline in business; the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 (known generally as 9/11) had a serious impact; the war in Iraq; and the dreaded SARS which took a heavy toll in Toronto meant that not only the routine conventions businesses dropped, but also scared tourists away.