Air Canada is operating a total of 21 return flights a week to Delhi from its international hubs in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, operated by a mix Boeing 777-300ER and Boeing 787-9 aircraft.  As Russia closed its airspace to Canada effective 28th February with exceptions made for humanitarian aid or diplomatic missions.

As a consequence of the closure of Russian airspace Air Canada will operate 10 technical stops per week through Dublin Airport from its Montreal and Vancouver bases to Delhi on selected eastbound and westbound sectors. As it is a technical stop and no 5th Freedom rights, Air Canada will not be accepting passengers in Dublin for onward flights.

Dublin Movements Blog data reveals C-FGDX Boeing 787-9 msn 35269 Air Canada operated the first ACA44 on Monday 28th February arriving 1701 from Vancouver and departing 1915 to Delhi, a second aircraft transited same night C-FNOH Boeing 787-9 msn 35267 ACA44D arrived from Delhi 2301 local departing Toronto (YYZ) to ACA43 at 0050 local.

In an statement Air Canada stated “There has been no change to our normal schedule of 21 return flights a week to India and we will continue to operate it. The schedule is 10-times a week from Toronto; daily out of Vancouver; and four-times weekly from Montreal. Half the flights are still non-stop, with only the leg from Vancouver to Delhi and the return flights from Delhi to Toronto and Montreal doing a tech-stop in Dublin, which takes about 75 minutes. The extra distance to avoid Russian airspace also adds time, three-and-a-half or more hours, depending on the route and other factors.”

Air Canada operates from Dublin to Toronto five times weekly using Boeing 777-200LR aircraft and is to restart Montreal four times weekly and Vancouver three times weekly from 1st June using Boeing 787-8 aircraft.

Image Credit: Air Canada

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