NEW DELHI, May 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The first Air-India flight to Toronto in 20 years took off from here Sunday and will fly to the Canadian city via Amritsar and Birmingham, Indo-Asian News Service reported.

    Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel flagged off flight AI-187 that will operate from New Delhi on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

    Air-India suspended services to Canada after an aircraft on a Toronto-Mumbai flight via London was blown up in mid-air in 1985, killing all the 329 passengers and crew on board.

    The new route will provide the people of Punjab "direct and convenient services to Birmingham, the heartland of industrial and economic activity in the UK, and to Toronto, the financial capital of Canada," an airline official said here.

    The service, which is part of Air-India's drive to expand its network, will take the number of flights operated by the airline to Britain from 18 to 21 per week.

    Air-India at present operates 10 flights to London. Three more flights will be launched on the Delhi-Dhaka-Kolkata-London sector effective from June 18, said the official. Enditem