Iran War Impact: Air Canada Doubles India Capacity, Feds Ask Oman for Help
by Bruce Parkinson
Thousands of travellers are stranded in Dubai and other parts of the Middle East.
With most of the Middle East a no-fly zone for the foreseeable future, Air Canada has announced it will boost service to India for much of March.
“With the ongoing Middle East situation, from March 7 to 21 we’re adding a frequency for double-daily Toronto-Delhi service and using larger aircraft on select Toronto-London-Mumbai flights to provide routing options,” the airline said in a social media post.
Flying to India is a challenge these days. Flights from Canada typically fly over the Middle East. Polar routes were a previous option but not since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Since that event, Middle Eastern flight corridors have become much more important for flights connecting Europe and Asia. Viable routes now are longer and more costly for carriers.
With all the current geopolitical turmoil – add Cuba and Venezuela to the list – Air Canada finds itself with surplus capacity, and the increase in seats to India aims to assuage some of that.
With close to 100,000 Canadians registered with Global Affairs Canada as being in the Middle East region at this time, Canada is making plans for the possibility of emergency flights to bring citizens home.
To that end, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand has requested access “if necessary,” to Oman’s airspace. That country is in located in the southeastern Arabian Peninsula and flights currently remain viable. While other countries including the U.S. are arranging charter and military flights to evacuate citizens, Canada has not yet made that decision.
After most Middle East flights were suspended on February 28, there have been a small number of take-offs from airports in the United Arab Emirates, but those have been minimal. Iran has made retaliatory attacks aimed at U.S. interests in the Gulf region, but not all have been accurate and airports have been impacted.
With thousands of travellers stranded in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha and other parts of the region, local officials have been working to secure accommodations for them.
