Dubai and Tel Aviv will be Air Canada’s only remaining destinations in the Middle East, following the carrier’s termination of services to Doha.
Air Canada will suspend flights between Toronto and Doha at the end of January after two years of operation, the carrier announced on Friday.
“Air Canada has taken the decision to indefinitely suspend its Toronto to Doha service effective February 1, 2023, for commercial reasons,” the statement read.
The Star Alliance member began passenger service between its Toronto Pearson hub and Doha’s Hamad International Airport in December 2020, initially operating three times per week with Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
Ahead of the November 2020 launch, Air Canada also signed a codeshare agreement with oneworld member Qatar Airways, which allowed Qatar Airways’ passengers to enjoy smooth, one-stop connections to and from Toronto through the Hamad International Airport (HIA).
Air Canada passengers could also book travel through the Qatari airline to more than 75 destinations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Following this collaboration, frequencies increased to four times weekly in July 2021 and remained there until this week, when the 10,898-kilometer (5,884-nm) route was reduced to three round trips per week, according to reports.
However, flights will now be suspended indefinitely from early February 2023.
The suspension of the route will leave Dubai and Tel Aviv as the only two points in the Middle East to be served nonstop by Air Canada. The carrier currently flies to both destinations six times per week.
A total of 49,422 passengers flew from Toronto to Doha during the 2021 calendar year, Sabre Market Intelligence figures reveal.
Qatar Airways began flying to Canada in June 2011 with three weekly flights to Montreal that later increased to four in December 2018.
Canada’s national carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world, serving over 51 million customers in 2019. During the same year, Air Canada was awarded theBest Airline in North America.
Air Canada’s largest airport market beyond Doha was Iran’s capital Tehran, followed by Colombo in Sri Lanka and Dhaka in Bangladesh.
