After eight years: Senior citizens prepare to board Air India's inaugural flight from Delhi to Toronto, with stopovers in Amritsar and Birmingham. A scene at the Rajasansi airport in Amritsar on Sunday. — Photo: PTI (Report on Page 13)

NEW DELHI: Air India on Sunday resumed its service to Toronto, the financial capital of Canada, fulfilling a long-standing demand of Indians in that country. The service, being resumed after eight years, will provide the much-needed link between Delhi and Toronto.

AI had received a setback in 1985 when its jumbo jet `Kanishka' was blown off the Irish coast in the Atlantic, killing all 329 passengers on board. Special security measures have thus been taken by the Canadian authorities to protect the aircraft and the passengers.

The first service from the Indira Gandhi International airport via Amritsar and Birmingham was flagged off by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and Tourism Minister Renuka Chowdhury. Mr. Patel lauded AI's effort to expand its network and launch more direct flights to destinations in the West.

`Second long haul'

V. Thulasidass, AI Chairman and Managing Director, said the service to Toronto was the second long haul flight being launched this year from Delhi. The Delhi-Frankfurt-Los Angeles flight was launched in March, providing direct connectivity to the West Coast of the United States.

The Toronto flight will be operated with the state-of the-art Boeing 777-200 Extended Range aircraft on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. While the first class will have flat beds with partitions for privacy, the executive class will have slumberettes.

Delhi-London sector

With this, AI hopes to provide to the people of Punjab a direct and convenient connection to Birmingham, the heart of industrial and economic activity in the United Kingdom, and Toronto, the commercial hub of Canada. By mid-June, AI will launch three more flights on the Delhi-Dhaka-Kolkata-London sector.

Swagat Seva launched

Ms. Chowdhury launched a special service, `Swagat Seva,' which will provide help to foreign tourists at the airport. The facilitation service, evolved on the lines of `Marhaba' in Dubai, would be also implemented in Mumbai and other international airports.

"There are five million Indian tourists going to foreign destinations and India has become a major market for outbound tourists. This cannot be at the cost of domestic tourism, which is affected by the high cost of air travel. We have to reverse this trend," Ms. Chowdhury said.

GPS under consideration

A proposal to install GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) system on all taxis at the airport was being considered by the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministries, as also the setting up of gift shops and money-changers in the departure area of international airports.

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