Just off the wires...hurray no more offloading at airports.

Aeroflot really took a hit because of AC's non-stop per the report with flights flying with 20% occupancy!

Also interesting note that flight is very popular and is fully booked till Jan end. And AC employees can't fly since flights are overbooked.

So with the restrictions gone, can this route be considered as success yet?

Cheers

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Air Canada's direct flight to Toronto gets Russian nod

By Harbaksh Singh Nanda, New Delhi, Dec 3

Air Canada's direct flight between New Delhi and Toronto can fly over Russian airspace, ending weeks of uncertainty and agony caused to the passengers.

"We can fly over Russian air space (with effect from November 27)," Air Canada's India manager Ritendra Jang told IANS.

Moscow had last month barred Air Canada's flight between Toronto and New Delhi to fly over its air space since the non-stop flight had eaten into the revenue of Aeroflot's Toronto-Delhi flight via Moscow.

Aeroflot's flights were just 20 percent full after Air Canada launched its non-stop trans-Atlantic flight on October 16 with many passengers wanting to fly in the shortest possible time.

The Russian ban on the flight not only increased the travel time from 14 to 16 hours but also led to offloading of many confirmed passengers.

Since the aircraft had to make a detour to avoid Russian air space, it needed to carry extra fuel, which led to offloading of confirmed passengers.

There were chaotic scenes at the Pearson International airport in Toronto where Air Canada's confirmed passengers on non-stop flights were re-routed through Europe or Gulf countries making at least two stopovers.

The position relating to the New Delhi-Toronto flight was not that bad since the return traffic to Toronto was not that much, as the flight was only recently launched. The situation was different on the flight from the Toronto end. On an average up to 40 passengers were offloaded for days together.

Jang said the flight from New Delhi to Toronto had to make a technical halt at Stockholm several times in recent weeks to take more fuel. He said that no confirmed passengers from New Delhi to Toronto were ever offloaded.

The airline chose to get extra fuel on the way than to offload confirmed passengers or re-route them through Europe on partner carriers, he said.

"The crisis is over and we are fully booked right up to the end of January," Jang said.

The non-stop flight is so popular and booked so much in advance that Air Canada's employees are not allowed to travel by this route on free tickets. They have to use partner airlines and travel via Europe to avail themselves of their complimentary tickets.

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