3 August 2001
Air Canada, which was to have started flights into India from October this year, has now withdrawn. Meanwhile, Canadian
carrier, Canada 3000, Canada’s second largest scheduled airline,
is to start five flights into India.
Canada 3000 president, Angus J Kinnear told TravelWeekly East “Air Canada’s decision to start its services to India has, in a way, made our task easier. Once we
see the pattern of demand, it will enable us to extend our flights
to seven that we have a licence for.”
Canada 3000 is introducing a non-stop, twice-a-week polar route service between Toronto and Delhi from October 8 and a-once-a-week service between Vancouver and Delhi. It will also start a twice-weekly service between Mumbai and Toronto from November 5 with a one
hour stop at Gatwick airport, London.
The airline has announced a fare of US$904 to Toronto and US$1030 to Vancouver from India. Kinnear said: “We have been able to offer lower fares as we believe in putting more passengers on our aircraft. The more the passengers, the lower the fares.’’
Over 500,000 Indians are settled in Canada. The airline is looking at tapping the VFR market in a big way. Kinnear said in the first 36 hours of bookings opening in Canada, the airline had already booked 208 seats.
He also indicated that it would be interested in operating services between Canada and Amritsar in Punjab where the runway was being extended from 2,500m to 3,000m.
Canada 3000 has appointed Pearl Aviation as its general sales agent for North India. Pearl Aviation director, Amit Seth told TravelWeekly East that he expected a big response to and from Canada the year round.
“In winter, when it is very cold, many Indians settled in Canada come to India to spend time with their families. Throughout the year, the region receives a large pilgrim traffic to the golden temple in Amritsar.
“With increasing trade ties,
we expect business traffic from Canada to increase.”
The Delhi service will be operated with an Airbus
A-340-300 with 30-seats in the executive class and 261 seats in economy. The Mumbai flight will be operated on an Airbus A-330-200 with 18 Club class seats and 309
passengers in economy class.
Website: www.canada3000.com