Explaining that Vistara is harnessing the best practices of both the legendary hospitality of the Tatas and service excellence of Singapore Airlines, Phee Teik Yeoh, Chief Executive Officer of Vistara, says the service experience that the customers imbibe will be very different.

Edited excerpts from an exclusive interview.

You mentioned that Vistara managed to get the Air Operators Permit in record time. AirAsia also claimed to have received the AOP in record time and they burnt up ₹26 crore in the first quarter of operations? What gives you optimism the same will not happen to you?

I think the key difference is we got our AOP on December 15 and we will launch on January 9. That is the key difference. We are going to launch so soon after the AOP

Does launching so soon after getting the AOP in anyway create a problem as far as selling tickets are concerned?

We have been gearing up for launch as early as... We had initially targeted to launch operations on October 15 but there was a minor setback and we did not get the chance to launch then. We were ready right from the start. When this setback came about we just took more time to refine, go through the drill to reshape our product, so that when we launch the passenger will experience what he has never experienced before.

You are talking about experience, but an Air India or a Jet offers inflight entertainment, which you are not offering. Will that not be a setback?

I will like to reiterate customer experience is one which is end-to-end. You do not just look at what is the product on board, although it is part of the overall customer experience.

We are going to redefine the experience on the ground and in the air. It involves the entire journey. From the time the customer books (a ticket) till the time they leave the airport.

Can you walk us through how the life of an economy class passenger will change from January 9?

For a start we will have auto check-in where we simplify the process for the customer. We take one particular process which is a very painful process as espoused by many of the consumers during our surveys. We take it out of the equation. We are telling them we will check-in for you.

But does IndiGo not offer the same where the boarding card comes into your inbox?

There is a slew of experiences. We are introducing a first in many other areas. At the end of the day consumer experience is the one that is from end-to-end. No single product or service feature is the only reason they travel with us. They will travel with Vistara … Our New Year gift to India because of slew of unique and delightful experiences like auto check in, mobile app. No lines, dedicated counters.

Kingfisher tried that...they had kerbside...

Inflight dining experience we are going to have an eclectic mix of Indian and global cuisine driven by global culinary trends. We are going to have a first value-based system in terms of the frequent flyer loyalty programme.

We are going to be on Amadeus, a global technology partner which allows us to make our innovative products and services available regardless of what platform the customer chooses to interact with us on, whether it is through the travel agent, web, mobile app or customer care services.

We believe strongly in leveraging on IT, which will be a key differentiator not only in the way that it delights our customer, but also in the way we will drive cost leadership.

What was difficult for us to explain is the intuitively thoughtful service. It is very difficult to explain as it is the soft aspect. This is where we have been spending a lot of time training our staff.

Any plans of getting inflight entertainment on your fleet?

Yes. When we have tied up all the loose ends we will make an announcement, which should be very soon.

Pricing is a key component……

Indeed it is. We are offering a range of fares, which cater to customers from all strata based on our value proposition and slew of services. It will be value for money, be it in business, premium class or economy.

How important to the success of Vistara is the removal of the 5 years 20 aircraft rule for doing international operations?

From the start we are aware of the rule. The writing is on the wall. The Government has taken cognisance of the rule that unfortunately penalises Indian carriers and not foreign ones.

We are hopeful that very soon the 5/20 will go away. That will open the world to us. The world becomes our oyster to grow our route network. There are many interesting destinations both within and outside India to which we will like to operate. Our plans to thrive in this industry are focused on a domestic operations, at least for the first five years.

But if the rule changes there is nothing stopping us from going international.

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