Vistara will place orders for new narrowbody and widebody aircraft by the end of 2018 as it plots a new aggressive growth phase.
Speaking to FlightGlobal, chief executive Leslie Thng says that the carrier “does not have enough narrowbodies”. The widebodies he adds, will be put on medium-haul flights of between five to nine hours that could “either be Europe or North Asia”.
Medium-haul flights will begin in “one to two years” after its first international and regional service, which is planned to launch in the second half of 2018.
Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that Vistara has 13 Airbus A320ceos and six A320neos in service. Thng says that Vistara will receive its 20th aircraft, an A320neo by the end of March, with others due in May and June.
He adds that Vistara will look for more airline partners with the same full-service model to feed its domestic network at its Delhi hub.
To date, Vistara inked codeshare agreements with Singapore Airlines and SilkAir, as well as interline agreements with All Nippon Airways, Qatar Airways, Air France, KLM, Japan Airlines, and British Airways.
Thng adds that Vistara has no intention to join an airline alliance as it will seek to work on more bilateral agreements.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
