The airline will fly from Glasgow five days a week

Zoom will fly to five cities - Calgary, Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver - starting from May 2004.

The airline is also launching flights to the same cities, plus Edmonton, from London Gatwick.

The airline's chairman, Hugh Boyle, said the flights would provide a "major tourism boost" to Scotland and Canada and fares would start at �89 one-way.

"There are strong family, historic and cultural links between the two countries," Mr Boyle said.

'Exciting opportunities'

Nancy McNiven, of the Canadian High Commission in London, added: "These new services will be extremely welcome on both sides of the Atlantic and will offer a wider range of options for those travelling between countries that have so much in common."

Malcolm Roughead, director of marketing at VisitScotland, said: "This new link is fantastic news for Scotland and offers exciting new opportunities to capture a larger share of the Canadian market.

"It is also a huge vote of confidence in this country as a must-visit destination for Canadians."

The new service will create 20 jobs in a Glasgow-based call centre.

Charter flights

Zoom was founded in Canada in May 2002 by Mr Boyle and a team from the world of travel and aviation.

The airline is based in Ottawa from where it operates in the Canadian leisure travel industry with flights to the Caribbean, Mexico and the southern USA.

Earlier this year, it began transatlantic charter flights from Glasgow, Manchester and Gatwick on behalf of several holiday and flight operators.

Mr Boyle developed the travel firm, Direct Holidays, with his brother John, former owner of Motherwell Football Club.

Direct Holidays was subsequently bought by Airtours.