Ryan Flanagan, CTVNews.ca
Published Wednesday, February 27, 2019 10:56AM EST Air Canada has redirected one India-bound flight and cancelled another as tensions between that country and neighbouring Pakistan escalate.
An Air Canada spokesperson confirmed to CTV News Wednesday morning that the airline had temporarily suspended its service to India. A flight from Toronto to Delhi was directed to return to Canada, while a flight from Vancouver to Delhi was cancelled.
The spokesperson said Air Canada would resume service to India “once the situation normalizes and we determine it is safe to do so.”
In addition to the daily flights to Delhi, Air Canada runs four flights a week from Toronto to Mumbai.
Pakistan’s military said Wednesday that it had shot down two Indian planes in its airspace and taken one pilot into custody. Around the same time, the country’s aviation authority announced that it had shut its airspace to all commercial flights.
Hostilities between the two countries have been increasing since a suicide attack in India-controlled Kashmir killed more than 40 Indian soldiers earlier this month.