NEW DELHI: Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, will start operating international flights from next year. For this, the carrier will enhance its fleet size to 20 planes by March 2018, three months ahead of original schedule. According to rules, an airline should have 20 planes to start overseas flights.
“We are going to announce our plans for international operations very soon. But I cannot give a date as yet. March 2018 is when we will be able to apply for a permit to fly abroad,” said Vistara’s CEO Phee Teik Yeoh.
Talking to reporters here on Thursday, Vistara’s chief strategy and commercial officer Sanjiv Kapoor said that in theory, the airline could start flying abroad after its 21st aircraft comes in May. However, he added that some more time would be needed for getting necessary approvals required for operation of international flights.
On Thursday, Vistara also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Japan Airlines for commercial cooperation. The agreement allows the two airlines to code-share and offer frequent-flyer partnership.
Initially, Vistara plans to start its operation to international cities, which are up to four-and-a-half hours’ flying distance from India. This means that it will start with flights to the Far East and West Asia.
Yeoh said Japan is an important market, but refused to divulge the details of Vistara’s operations to Japan in the future. “How soon, how many services a week, what aircraft type... these are all works in progress, which we are very close to finalising.”