State-run international carrier Air-India will Sunday re-launch a thrice-weekly service to Birmingham and Toronto from Delhi and Amritsar after a gap of nearly two decades, said the airline Saturday.

The flight AI-187 will originate from New Delhi on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. It will connect Toronto via Amritsar and Birmingham, said an Air-India official here.

Air-India's service to Canada had been interrupted after the airline's flight from Toronto to Mumbai via London was blown off mid-air in 1985 killing all the 329 passengers on board.

The airline will use Boeing 777-222ER aircraft on the Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham-Toronto route.

With the launch of the new flight, Air-India will provide to the people of Punjab direct and convenient services to Birmingham in Britain and Toronto in Canada, said an airline official.

The introduction of 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.