This article was updated on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, to include additional insight into Air India’s current sole nonstop route to North America. It was originally published on Wednesday, September 2, 2026.

In late October, Air India will introduce service from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM) to Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ). The launch comes despite the airline’s continued focus on stopping services to North America, which is, of course, something that it does not want.

Air India must avoid flying through Pakistani and Iranian airspace. Even more significantly, the carrier also avoids Russian airspace en route to/from the US and Canada, which might be as a condition of flying to North America. As a result, significant detours continue. They are costly, produce far more emissions, and make Air India’s offering even less competitive than usual.

Air India’s New Flights From Mumbai To Toronto

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Based on IATA slot seasons, northern carriers, including Air India, will switch to winter schedules on October 25. For now, at least, flights are only due to operate during the winter, with the final departure set to leave India for Canada on March 26, 2027. That is shortly before Air India, like other northern operators, switches to summer schedules.

Three weekly flights will be available. Air India will exclusively deploy the 328-seat Boeing 777-300ER, which is the carrier’s third-highest capacity equipment but the lowest-capacity Triple Seven. This is the ‘upgraded’ version, with eight first class suites (with privacy doors; 1-2-1), 40 flat beds in business (1-2-1), and 280 seats in economy (mainly 3-4-3; 31″ pitch). Wi-Fi, better food, and better IFE are all meant to be available.

When Air India revealed the route in early August, the carrier stated — on multiple occasions — that flights would be nonstop. And the airline’s schedule submission to OAG shows it still plans to operate nonstop.

Things may not be this straightforward. Routes that currently stop to refuel and presumably change crew, mainly in Rome, are also scheduled to be nonstop in October. This seems improbable. Indeed, for now, at least, only one route from India is nonstop. And that’s on the 787-9, rather than the 777-300ER.

It Is A Decent-Sized Market

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Naturally, India’s flag carrier will primarily target the local BOM-YYZ-BOM market. Booking data via OAG Traffic Analyzer shows that 128,000 round-trip passengers traveled between June 2025 and May 2026. Excluding seasonality, that was 351 passengers each day. Air Canada transported some of these passengers on its fifth freedom service via London Heathrow, which ended in March 2026. This development influenced Air India to begin flights.

A lot of the market’s total passengers connected en route. They primarily did so via the Middle East with Etihad Airways, Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Saudia, and in Europe, including with British Airways, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic, KLM, and SWISS. Cathay Pacific also captured some traffic via Hong Kong. Etihad will begin flying to its next Canadian destination soon.

Like any long-haul route, connectivity via BOM will also be important for Air India to help fill up its aircraft. Having only three weekly services will help to reduce the reliance on this traffic, which is lower-yielding and costs more to carry than local passengers.

Big targets for YYZ include Ahmedabad (81,000 round-trip passengers), Bengaluru (49,000), Hyderabad (47,000), and Chennai (41,000). Air India was the second-largest carrier to these cities due to its flights from Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) to YYZ, so some cannibalization will take place. It’ll be targeting a bigger share of the pie.

Air India Only Has One Nonstop Route To North America (For Now)

Credit: Flightradar24

For a while, Air India’s flights between DEL and YYZ stopped in Vienna International Airport (VIE). However, on August 1, 2026, nonstop flights returned. This is the carrier’s only nonstop service to North America (excluding flights from Kolkata).

The removal of the stop in VIE coincided with the route’s equipment changing from the 777-300ER to the 787-9. Flightradar24 shows that three frames are deployed to YYZ: VT-AWB, VT-AWC, and VT-AWD. This is because they have a higher maximum takeoff weight (MTOW). Given the very long trip, the maximum amount of fuel will be taken. The increased MTOW, compared to the airline’s other 787s, enables the payload restriction of flights to be reduced (but not eliminated). More passengers can be transported, which helps generate more revenue.

As the route’s frequency will increase to ten weekly services in September, the stopover will return. The daily offering (on the 787-9) will remain nonstop, but the three additional weekly departures (on the 777-300ER) will fly via VIE. Of course, this is only to Canada. All flights back to Asia are nonstop, as they benefit from tailwinds.

As the figure above shows, detouring on the nonstop flights remains significant, with flights to Canada’s busiest airport usually flying over the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. The block time for the nonstop service is 17 hours and 15 minutes, which has been reduced by nearly three hours compared to stopping en route. Flightradar24 indicates that flights tend to take around 16 hours and 30 minutes. And that’s before the winter with higher headwinds.