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Forum Gandhi Full-service carrier Vistara plans to add more all-economy configured aircrafts to its fleet as part of its plans to expand its reach on secondary and tertiary routes. Currently, Vistara has only three such aircrafts in its fleet, wherein the configuration is of an all-economy type.
Vistara has utilised these aircrafts on routes of tier-2 and 3 markets where the demand for business class and the premium economy cabin is low compared to metro routes.
Increasingly, Vistara has been utilising these aircrafts depending on the passenger load, especially on Ranchi, Indore, and Raipur routes.
New routes
According to sources, the airline is now planning to add more secondary market and tertiary market routes to its fleet and use the all-economy aircrafts on these routes.
In response to BusinessLine ’s query, a Vistara spokesperson said, “In view of the dynamic situation due to the pandemic, we are looking at many options to efficiently cater to demand in tier 2 cities. However, we can’t confirm anything at the moment.”
In order to differentiate itself from a low-cost carrier, Vistara includes meal and lounge services even on all-economy flights.
While it is not clear whetherthat these aircraft will be leased or owned, the source said that Vistara’s parent company is extremely confident in its performance.
Earlier this year, the company’s CEO Leslie Thng said that the airline is set to have 70 aircraft in the fleet by 2023.
The airline was started in January 2015. Currently, the fleet has 36 Airbus A320s, two A321 neos, six Boeing B737-800NGs, and two B787-9 Dreamliners.
Vistara’s net loss was reduced from ₹1,814 crore in FY20 to ₹1,612 crore in FY21 due to foreign exchange gains. Amid the pandemic, the full-service carrier caught up to 8.1 per cent of the Indian aviation market from 5.6 per cent during the same period last year. Vistara reported the highest PLF of 75 per cent and 69 per cent in July 21 respectively,
Tata SIA Airlines Limited, the owner of Vistara airlines, has raised $110 million through External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) in May. Earlier this year, its promoters Tata Sons Ltd and Singapore Airlines Ltd had infused an additional ₹465 crore into the airline, data accessed by the business intelligence platform, Tofler showed. So far, the two joint venture promoters of Vistara have infused around ₹4,500 crores in the airline.
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