Birmingham International Airport (BIA) welcomed news that India’s flagship carrier, Air India, will launch direct scheduled services between Birmingham, India and Canada from Sunday 15th May 2005. Birmingham will be the airline’s only UK base outside London. The service, which originates in Delhi, will provide the only direct scheduled service between Amritsar, Birmingham and Toronto.
The flight schedule will be as follows: • Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays - Arrive into Birmingham from Delhi & Amritsar at 17:15. Depart from Birmingham for Toronto at 18:45 • Thursdays, Saturdays and Mondays – Arrive into Birmingham from Toronto at 11:10. Depart Birmingham for Amritsar & Delhi at 12:30.
Peter Vella, BIA’s Business Development Director, said: “This is great news for BIA and the whole region. This will be our 12th long haul scheduled destination and will open up a whole new range of opportunities for people wanting to reach Canada, India and beyond from the Midlands.
“Although the range of services and destinations from Birmingham are growing annually, we still only handle around 50% of the potential regional market. It is therefore excellent news that Air India has chosen to set up its second UK base in Birmingham, a development which has the potential demand for further growth in the future.”
Captain A.K Sharma, Regional Director UK & Europe for Air India commented, “We are thrilled to have this opportunity to serve three major demand centres and connect people throughout India with the UK and Canada. We believe there is a large market for these routes, particularly from those wanting to easily reach friends and relatives in India and Canada from the Midlands, and we also expect the business and leisure traveller in all three centres to benefit from our operation. We very much look forward to working with Birmingham Airport, and I’m sure this will be the start of a very successful partnership.”
The airline will operate a Boeing 777-200 aircraft on the Birmingham route, which holds 284 passengers in a mixed configuration. Fares start from £299 to India and £110 to Toronto plus taxes. Bookings can be made by calling the airline’s reservations number on 020 8560 9996, and Air India’s consolidators/travel agents.
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