Vistara

Vistara
IATA
UK		 ICAO
VTI		 Callsign
VISTARA
Founded 2013
Commenced operations 9 January 2015
Hubs Indira Gandhi International Airport (Delhi)
Frequent-flyer program Club Vistara
Fleet size 6
Destinations 10[1]
Company slogan Fly the new feeling
Parent company Tata Sons
Singapore Airlines
Headquarters One Horizon Center, Gurgaon, India
Key people Phee Teik Yeoh (CEO)
Prasad Menon (Chairman)
Giam Ming Toh (CCO)
Website www.airvistara.com

Vistara is an Indian airline based in New Delhi with its hub at Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport. The carrier, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, commenced operations on 9 January 2015 with its inaugural flight between Delhi and Mumbai[2] and it carried a total of 100,000 passenger by 31 March 2015.[3] As of May 2015, the airline operates 197 weekly scheduled passenger service across 8 domestic destinations within India with a fleet of 6 Airbus A320-232 aircraft. Vistara is the first private airline to introduce premium economy seats on domestic flights in India.[4]

History

TATA-SIA Airlines limited was set up in 2013 as a joint venture between India's conglomerate Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines. The airline was envisioned as a premium full-service carrier to cater the high end business traveler's demands in India's civil aviation market dominated by low-cost carriers.[5] The two parent companies initially invested a combined US$100 million as seed capital, with TATA Sons owning 51 per cent and Singapore Airlines owning the remaining 49 per cent.[6] The TATA-SIA joint venture received approval from India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board in October 2013, allowing SIA to take a 49 percent stake in the airline.[7] This was TATA's second foray into the aviation sector after TATA Airlines in the 1930s. Tata Airlines later became Air India and was subsequently nationalized.[8]

The company unveiled its brand identity Vistara in August 2014. The name was taken from the Sanskrit word Vistaar, meaning "limitless expanse".[9][10] Vistara received its air operator's certificate or the flying license from the aviation regulator DGCA in December 2014 and started operations on 9 January 2015.[11] Vistara became the first carrier to operate domestic services out of the new Terminal 2 at Mumbai CSI Airport. The airline will initially operate from level 4 of the terminal, which is being used by international carriers. From July 2015, it will be shifted to level 3, which when complete will be dedicated for domestic carriers.[12] In March 2015, Vistara shifted to its new office in One Horizon Center tower in Gurgaon, outskirt of Delhi.[13][14] The airline achieved an 89% On-time performance (OTP) in January 2015, first month of operation, despite to being peak fog season at its hub airport.[15]

Destinations

As of May 2015, Vistara flies to these following destinations:

Country (State) City Airport Notes Ref
India (Assam) Guwahati Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport [1][16]
India (Delhi) Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport Hub [1]
India (Goa) Panjim Goa International Airport [1]
India (Gujarat) Ahmedabad Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport [1]
India (Karnataka) Bangalore Kempegowda International Airport begins 16 June 2015 [17]
India (Maharashtra) Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport [1]
India (Maharashtra) Pune Pune International Airport [18]
India (Telangana) Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport [1][19]
India (Uttar Pradesh) Lucknow Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport begins 18 May 2015 [17]
India (West Bengal) Siliguri Bagdogra Airport [1][16][20]

Codeshare agreements

Vistara has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

Fleet

Vistara's first A-320 aircraft (VT-TTB) at Delhi IGI Airport

As of May 2015, Vistara operates the following aircraft:

Vistara fleet[22]
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
J S Y Total
Airbus A320-232 6 7 16 36 96 148 Deliveries till March 2016.[23]
Airbus A320neo — 7 TBA Deliveries through 2018.
Total 6 14

Vistara took delivery of its first aircraft at New Delhi on 25 September 2014.[24] The airline plans to take delivery of all 13 A320ceo by March 2016[23] and 7 A320neo of its initial order by 2018.[25] In March 2015 Vistara CEO Phee Teik Yeoh announced that the airline is planning to procure an unspecified number of both narrow-body and wide-body aircraft to enhance the domestic network and to launch international flights within two years.[26]

Services

Cabin

Business class

Being a full-service carrier Vistara offers 16 business class seats, 4 rows in 2-2 configuration, in its 148 seater A320-200 fleet. The business class seats are 20.12 inch wide with 42 inch seat pitch.[27] Currently, there are no LCD screens attached with seats to display in-flight entertainment but the airline beams content to passengers personal electronic devices.

Premium Economy

Vistara was the first airline in India to introduce the class in the domestic market. Currently it offers 36 premium economy seats, 6 rows in 3-3 configuration, out of total 148 seats in the single aisle Airbus A320-200 aircraft in its fleet. Each being 18 inch wide and of 33 inch pitch.[28][29]

In-flight entertainment

Unlike its competitors, as of now Vistara's A320 aircraft don't have In-Flight entertainment screens installed. Again in a first in India, Vistara will beam content directly to passenger's personal electronic devices (tablet and smart phones) through one-way Wi-Fi connection on board. For business class passenger the airline will provide tablets.[30]

Vistara selects BAE Systems IntelliCabin in-flight entertainment system which will stream content to passenger's personal devices, Vistara provides tablets for business class passengers. The system is expected to go live in it's fleet within 6 months.[31]

Catering

The food is catered by the award winning TajSats Air Catering, the other joint venture between the Tatas and Singapore, headed by Grand Master Chef Satish Arora, formerly the Executive Chef of the Taj Mahal hotels group.[32]

Frequent-flyer program

Vistara uses Club Vistara as its frequent-flyer program,[33] it operates as a value based program and rewards on the basis of money spent on tickets rather that miles travelled by passengers. The value-based program has become a trend-setters in the domestic market as other competing full-service carriers also forced to readjust their own loyalty program.[34] On 29 January 2015 Vistara announced a partnership agreement with Singapore Airlines (SIA) which would allow Club Vistara members to earn and redeem miles with KrisFlyer program on SIA's (including Silk Air) global network and vice versa.[35]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "Vistara destinations". Vistara.
  2. ↑ "Vistara takes to the skies, operates first flight from Delhi to Mumbai". The Economic Times. 9 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Welcomed 100,000th passenger:@airvistara (Twitter)".
  4. ↑ "Vistara takes the premium economy way". Business Standard. 23 December 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  5. ↑ "Tata, Singapore Airlines look to fly in Indian skies". Hindustan Times. 19 September 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  6. ↑ "SIA partners Tata group to set up new airline in India". Strait Times. 19 September 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  7. ↑ "SIA, Tata proposal gets green light from India's foreign investment board". 24 October 2013.
  8. ↑ "TATA FORAYS INTO SKY WITH VISTARA". The Pioneer. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  9. ↑ "Tata SIA christens its airline, Vistara". Tata Sons. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  10. ↑ "Vistara meaning".
  11. ↑ "Vistara gets air operator permit, to take off in Jan". Business Standard. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  12. ↑ "Vistara to operate out of Mumbai International Airport’s new T2 terminal". The Economic Times. 1 January 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  13. ↑ "Few takers for office space in metro cities". Financial Express. 24 February 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  14. ↑ "Battle of Class". Business Today. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  15. ↑ "Vistara’s OTP stands at 89 per cent in 1st month of operation". The Hindu. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Vistara to add Guwahati and Bagdogra into its network". Vistara. 2 March 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Vistara adds Lucknow and Bangalore to its network". The Economic Times. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  18. ↑ "Vistara to launch daily Delhi-Pune flight from April". Business Standard. 13 March 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  19. ↑ "Vistara spreads wings; to add Goa, Hyderabad flights by March". The Economic Times. 23 January 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  20. ↑ "After Singur flight, Tata takes return flight to Bengal". Hindustan Times. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 P.R. Sanjai (22 December 2014). "Vistara signs inter-line agreement with Singapore Airlines, SilkAir". Live Mint. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  22. ↑ "Vistara Fleet". Planespotters.net.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 "BOC Aviation to deliver all 13 planes to Vistara by March 2016". The Economic Times. 9 January 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  24. ↑ "Vistara takes delivery of first Airbus A320 aircraft in Delhi". Business Standard. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  25. ↑ "Vistara to have fleet size of 20 aircraft by 2018". Live Mint. 1 March 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  26. ↑ "Vistara plans to add international routes, expand fleet". Reuters. 31 March 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  27. ↑ "Inflight review: Vistara Business Class: Airbus A320: Hyderabad – New Delhi". ;;Bangalore Aviation. 25 March 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  28. ↑ "Vistara takes the premium economy way". Business Standard. 23 December 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  29. ↑ "Inflight review: Tata-SIA Vistara premium economy: A320: New Delhi – Mumbai". Bangalore Aviation. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  30. ↑ "Vistara to beam content to flyers’ devices". The Times of India. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  31. ↑ "Vistara selects BAE's in-flight entertainment system". Press Trust of India/The Economic Times. 14 April 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  32. ↑ "Food in high places". The Hindu. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  33. ↑ "Club Vistara". Vistara.
  34. ↑ "Full-service airlines Vistara, Jet Airways, Air India go full tilt at loyalty programmes". Financial Express. 7 March 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  35. ↑ "Vistara launches loyalty scheme with Singapore Airline's KrisFlyer programme". Daily News and Analysis. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.

External links

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