Air India adds Rome stop to westbound Mumbai–Toronto flights

Air India will launch a new Mumbai–Toronto service in four days, as winter schedules begin, but the westbound flight will now stop at Rome Fiumicino rather than run nonstop, according to Simple Flying. The route had until recently been listed as nonstop in both directions. The return flight from Toronto to Mumbai remains nonstop.

Schedule and aircraft

Simple Flying reports that Air India will fly three times a week, on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, using a 328-seat Boeing 777-300ER with its upgraded cabin. The cabin has eight first-class suites, 40 lie-flat business seats and 280 economy seats.

Flight AI193 is scheduled to leave Mumbai at 12:25 AM and reach Rome at 5:30 AM, then depart Rome at 7:00 AM and land in Toronto at 11:00 AM, all local times. The return, AI192, departs Toronto at 1:30 PM and arrives in Mumbai at 2:10 PM the next day. Including the stop, the westbound block time is more than 20 hours, per the report.

Why the stop

Simple Flying says the airline has to avoid Russian, Iranian and Pakistani airspace. It notes that Air India's existing Mumbai flights to New York JFK and Newark also stop at Fiumicino to refuel and change crew, and suggests strong westbound headwinds could be another factor. The publication also reports that Delhi–New York JFK and Newark nonstop services, due to resume with the Airbus A350-900, will instead continue with a Rome stop. Most of Air India's North American departures from India involve a stop this winter, with Delhi–San Francisco and Delhi–Vancouver the exceptions.

The Toronto–Mumbai market

The service fills a gap left by Air Canada, which ended its Toronto–Mumbai flights in March, according to Simple Flying. Air Canada had flown four times weekly via London Heathrow on a fifth-freedom basis, after earlier running nonstop services from 2017 to 2020. The report says that route was deemed unsustainable. Air Canada still flies daily between Delhi and Toronto, with the westbound leg via Rome or Vienna.

Booking data cited by the publication shows more than 1.2 million round-trip passengers between the two cities from June 2025 to May 2026, making Toronto the third-largest Mumbai–North America market behind New York JFK and San Francisco.

What this means for travellers

• Westbound passengers from Mumbai should plan for a journey of more than 20 hours, with a stop in Rome, rather than a nonstop flight.
• The Rome leg is scheduled to arrive at 5:30 AM and depart at 7:00 AM, so the connection is on the same flight number. Whether passengers stay on board during the stop is not stated in the source.
• Eastbound travellers from Toronto get a nonstop flight, though the report does not give its duration.
• With three weekly departures, travellers should check flight days before booking.
• Those who relied on Air Canada's Toronto–Mumbai service now have Air India as the route's operator.

Fares and any further schedule changes were not covered in the source.

Sources: Simple Flying.