Jet Airways to start Toronto- New Delhi service from August

New Delhi: Indian carrier, Jet Airways, will start five flights a week from Toronto to New Delhi from 23 August, and also a daily service by October-end, on a route that Air Canada has discontinued from this month. The launch of these services marks a major push into North America by the newly merged carrier. Last month it acquired another Indian carrier, Air Sahara, after protracted negotiations.

Jet Airways will begin five flights a week from Toronto, through Brussels and destined for New Delhi, beginning 23 August, according to senior general manager, Abraham Joseph. The Indian carrier is targeting the launch of a daily service on the same route by the end of October, as part of a major push into North America, he said.

"We had Canada in mind ever since we got permission to fly overseas," Joseph said adding, "we have a market here with a lot of people traveling to India on business or for vacation. We are hoping to capture a good market share of this traffic."

Jet Airways expects to get its licence to fly into Canada in the coming weeks.

Canada has a large expatriate Indian population that would benefit from the service, and at a larger level the service is expected to boost trade links between the two countries.

Air Canada backed off from providing services on this route, claiming that they had turned out to be unviable. As such, Jet Airways will have a point to prove with the launch of services on this route.