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Vistara expects to end the financial year with a fleet of 47 to 48 aircraft, down from its earlier estimate of having 53 aircraft by the year-end, Vinod Kannan, Chief Commercial Officer, Vistara, said on Wednesday.
In a video-conference with the media, Kannan said that the airline had no plans to cancel any of its orders but “will look to rejig some orders” which will be done because of a combination of factors, including issues related to aircraft production and operational aspects. Earlier, the airline was to have three to four widebody aircraft in its fleet by now, but the number has got whittled down to two.
Vistara is currently operating 110-120 weekly flights, which is about 55 to 60 per cent of its pre-Covid level. Kannan added that he expected to return to the pre-Covid levels in terms of capacity by March or April next year. The government has maintained all along that domestic flying will return to pre-Covid levels by Diwali.
Kannan said not only was the airline seeing booking of an additional seat as a precaution during the pandemic but passengers were also booking entire cabins and aircraft for their travel needs. Vistara offers economy, premium economy and business class cabins on most of its domestic flights.
Fare cap
Asked about the domestic fare-cap, Kannan said that the most ideal situation is a totally free market where customers and airlines can determine what is the price that the market can absorb for any sort of duration of journey. The government recently extended the fare cap on domestic flights till February 24. Earlier, the domestic fare cap was to end on November 24.
Kannan said some Vistara pilots and crew had tested Covid-positive but they were not necessarily those who had flown. Given the current state of play and manner in which the infection is spreading “you can succumb to it through multiple means through flying,” he said that the number of those infected was small.
In view of the second phase of lockdown in the UK, the airline is to operate three weekly flights between Delhi and London Heathrow, Kannan said, that adding that seven flights which were earlier supposed to operate on the route have been cancelled for November.
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