Air Canada to Launch New Fifth Freedom Route to India via London Heathrow with Boeing 787 Dreamliner

On October 26, Air Canada will inaugurate a significant new route from Calgary to Delhi, connecting through London Heathrow Airport. This new service will operate as a fifth freedom route, allowing Air Canada to carry passengers between Canada and India and between the UK and India. The route marks Air Canada’s longest fifth freedom operation and its second-longest one-stop service globally, following the Toronto-Vancouver-Sydney route.

The route’s demand is substantial, with over 130,000 annual travelers flying between Calgary and Delhi, a market that has lacked direct or one-stop options until now. The daily service will operate on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, configured to carry 298 passengers, and will run as a winter seasonal operation.

Flight schedules are carefully aligned to optimize transit times and comfort. Outbound Flight AC850 will depart from Calgary at 18:30, arriving at London Heathrow at 09:20 local time the next day, before continuing to Delhi at 12:00 and arriving at 02:45 the following day. For the return, Flight AC851 will leave Delhi at 06:20, landing in Heathrow at 11:20, with the final leg departing Heathrow at 13:25 and arriving in Calgary at 16:30. The total journey time from Calgary to Delhi will be around 20 hours and 45 minutes westbound, and around 21 hours and 40 minutes eastbound due to headwinds.

With Air Canada joining the UK-India market on this route, Heathrow-Delhi now sees eight daily departures, underscoring its position as a significant corridor for air travel between the two countries. The competing carriers include Air India, which operates double daily flights (increasing to triple daily in November), British Airways and Virgin Atlantic with double daily flights each, and Vistara, which runs a daily service until November 10.

The new Calgary-Delhi service will replace the Toronto-Heathrow-Mumbai route, which Air Canada began as a winter seasonal operation in 2022 but will now discontinue. Meanwhile, the airline will resume non-stop Toronto-Mumbai flights on December 1. This service, flown on a 300-seat Boeing 777-200LR, addresses high demand between Toronto and Mumbai, serving a point-to-point market with approximately 141,000 annual travelers.

With this new route, Air Canada joins an array of unique long-haul, fifth freedom routes, operating four services this winter. This network expansion enhances Air Canada’s reach in international travel, catering to the large Indian diaspora in Canada and meeting growing travel demand between North America, the UK, and India.

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