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The country’s newest full service carrier Vistara wants the government to completely do away with restrictions on flying international routes.
“We are trying to tell the government that they can make it simpler for ease of doing business and remove it (restrictions),” Vistara CEO Phee Teik Yeoh told BusinessLine . He said his airline had written a letter to the Ministry of Civil Aviation recently in this regard.
The Ministry has proposed replacing the so called 5/20 norm with domestic flying credit (DFC). An airline will require at least 200 credits to fly international routes and will be allowed to fly those routes with a minimum of five aircraft as against 20 at present. For a new airline, it will need at least 600 credits to fly to international destinations which are less than six hours.
“If there is no formula available, then DFC is better. I would rather go with it than the existing one,” Phee said. He said it is important for the government to realise that the market forces should prevail. “They are taking a serious look. We have given our feedback.”
He also said that depending on the government’s decision, Vistara will also take a relook at the type of aircraft it will induct into its fleet, going forward.
Phee said the airline is consolidating its operations out of Delhi which is its hub and hence the frequency of flights from any single destination will be carried out carefully. For example, in the case of Bangalore, Vistara has morning flights only from Delhi. “For us to start morning flights from Bangalore to Delhi, we need to park our aircraft in Bangalore and we cannot do that because we will be spreading our resources thin,” Phee explained. The airline currently has six aircraft in its fleet and expects to have three more before the end of the year.
The airline has achieved 67 per cent PLF in April and expects to do better. He said the premium economy seats, the first in any domestic airline, are getting popular among the corporates. “Our target is to exceed customers’ expectations. In many markets, we haven’t even gone beyond two daily flights,” he said.
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