News
Vistara to transition to all-Boeing fleet?
June 1st 2018
Indian full-service carrier, Vistara, is close to announcing a fleet transition from A320 Family aircraft to the B737 MAX series, several Indian media reported this week, citing Vistara sources. Read More »
Vistara currently operates 13 leased A320ceo and seven leased A320neo. The media reports suggested that some Vistara pilots were already undergoing type rating for the B737 MAX series.
The Delhi-headquartered airline is seeking closer cooperation with its parent, Singapore Airlines (SIA).
Another SIA subsidiary, Singapore-based regional carrier SilkAir, is currently transitioning from an A320 Family fleet to a B737NG and B737 MAX fleet, thus having Vistara follow suit makes sense. Moreover, Vistara could be tapping SilkAir’s sizable MAX order backlog, ensuring instant aircraft availability. It was previously announced that SilkAir would be folded into mainline SIA in 2020, which could also indicate a transition to widebody aircraft for SilkAir and consequently the entire batch of MAXs could be placed with Vistara.
At an annual results presentation in May, SIA CEO, Goh Choon Phong, said given the strong traffic volumes between Singapore and India there would be “obvious synergies” between SIA and Vistara.
“They can tap into the traffic that we can feed from Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific,” the SIA chief said.
Vistara has indicated its maiden international service to a yet unnamed destination will be in the second half of this year. The airline has met India’s 20-aircraft minimum fleet requirement that entitles it to apply for international routes.
The airline is also planning to launch medium- and long-haul flights of “between five to nine hours”, Vistara CEO, Leslie Thng, has said. The airline does not have suitable aircraft for flights of such length. The Delhi-based carrier could be tapping SIA’s large order backlog, including A350 and B787 aircraft.
Vistara will be competing in the medium-to long-haul market with Air India, Jet Airways and soon low-cost carrier (LCC), IndiGo Airlines. The latter is reportedly in the final stages of ordering up to 50 330neo after evaluating the type against the A350 and B787. IndiGo is said to favour the type because of faster delivery times and flight deck commonality with its massive A320 fleet.
The airline code shares with SIA and SilkAir. In the longer term, Vistara is expected also to codeshare with Scoot, the SIA Group’s regional and long-haul LCC. Scoot has a relatively large Indian network, including Singapore to Chennai, Amritsar, Jaipur and Bangalore.
Vistara is forging interline agreements with a growing list of international carriers, including British Airways, Air France, Emirates Airline and Qatar Airways.
