TORONTO – With demand to Rio de Janeiro forecasted to drop following the Olympic Games, and the ongoing challenges of the Zika virus that continues to plague the country, Air Canada has announced that it will be “suspending indefinitely our Toronto-Rio de Janeiro non-stop flights, effective mid-October.”

According to spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick, “Service adjustments are part of normal airline schedule planning and the number of flights across our network may vary at certain times of the year, due to a number of factors including customer demand and aircraft availability.” He also noted that other airlines have also recently reduced or cancelled service to Rio de Janeiro.

Air Canada will continue to operate daily Toronto-Sao Paulo flights, and starting in December will operate brand new, state-of-the-art Boeing 787 aircraft on the route, replacing the 211-seat Boeing 763-300ER currently deployed.

“We continue to offer customers the option of convenient connecting flights to Rio via Sao Paulo on our codeshare partners GOL and Avianca Brasil,” Fitzpatrick added.