Air India Launches New 20-Hour Ultra-Long North America Route In 4 Days: See Map Now

Prachi is a London-based journalist with extensive experience in the aviation industry. She has worked for several leading industry publications, covering a broad range of topics. Her expertise lies in aircraft maintenance, emerging technologies, and advanced air mobility. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Journalism, focusing on data journalism and its potential to transform conventional aviation reporting.

Air India is India's largest international airline and remains the only Indian carrier operating long-haul flights to North America. For obvious reasons, it is the largest operator in the India–North America market, accounting for roughly 50–60% of the combined seat capacity.

In just four days, as the Northern Hemisphere winter season begins and airlines switch to their winter schedules, the Star Alliance member will launch a new service between Mumbai International Airport (BOM) and Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ). The new service will fill the gap left by Air Canada, which completely withdrew from the Toronto–Mumbai market earlier this year.

Air India’s New Toronto Flights Will Stop In Rome

Until recently, this new service was listed as a nonstop flight in both directions. However, the airline’s latest schedule shows that the westbound flight will make a stop at Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO). Including the layover, the total block time will be more than 20 hours. The return flight from Toronto to Mumbai will operate nonstop.

This is because Air India has to avoid Russian, Iranian, and Pakistani airspace. If we look at its other North American services, for instance, its existing flights from Mumbai to New York JFK Airport and Newark also stop at Fiumicino to refuel and change crew. Strong headwinds on westbound flights could be another factor.

The Indian carrier will operate three weekly flights on the route, on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. It will deploy its 328-seat Boeing 777-300ER featuring its upgraded cabin. This includes eight first-class suites with privacy doors in a 1-2-1 configuration, 40 lie-flat business-class seats in a 1-2-1 layout, and 280 economy seats arranged mainly in a 3-4-3 configuration, with 31 inches of seat pitch.

Air India Takes On Toronto–Mumbai Market After Air Canada Exit

Air India is entering an established market between Mumbai and Toronto. Booking data shows that more than 1.2 million round-trip passengers traveled between the two cities between June 2025 and May 2026. In fact, Toronto is the third-largest market between Mumbai and North America, behind New York JFK, with 225,000 passengers, and San Francisco, with 143,000.

Until March this year, Air Canada operated four weekly flights on the route using its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. But the airline flew via London Heathrow Airport (LHR) on a fifth-freedom basis. With that being said, it had previously operated nonstop flights between Toronto and Mumbai from 2017 to 2020.

However, the inability to fly over Russian airspace made nonstop operations unviable. Air Canada therefore operated via Heathrow during the winter 2022/2023, 2023/2024 and 2025/2026 seasons. However, the fifth-freedom route was also deemed unsustainable, leading to its withdrawal. The Canadian airline continues to operate daily flights between Delhi and Toronto, with the westbound leg operating via either FCO or Vienna International Airport (VIE).

Air India Will Operate More Than 1,300 North American Flights This Winter

This winter, according to aviation analytics provider Cirium, Air India is operating more than 1,300 flights between India and North America, offering around 436,611 round-trip seats. The airline was due to resume nonstop services from Delhi to New York JFK and Newark using its Airbus A350-900 aircraft. However, the latest schedule shows that both services will continue to operate with a stop at FCO.

In fact, most of the Star Alliance’s North American departures from India will involve a stop this winter. The exceptions are its Delhi–San Francisco and Delhi–Vancouver services. The airline will operate up to five weekly flights between Delhi International Airport (DEL) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) using its 777-300ER, and a daily service between DEL and Vancouver International Airport (YVR) with the same aircraft type.