Three months after launching operations in India, Vistara has added Pune to its route network, making this the seventh city the full service airline will connect with its hub in Delhi.

Beginning today, the airline will operate a daily Delhi-Pune flight departing from Delhi at 18.45 hours and returning to the Capital by 23.50 hours.

No slot at airport “We wanted to operate two flights daily to enable the business traveller to come to this business hub in the morning and return the same evening, but there is no slot available at the airport,” Phee Teik Yeoh, CEO, Vistara said.

The 51:49 joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines currently has six Airbus 320 aircraft in its fleet, and will add another three by taking its fleet to nine by the end of this 2015.

Engine options “We will have 20 aircraft by the end of 2018, all brand new A 320s leased from Bank of China aviation,” Yeoh said, adding that the first 13 aircraft will have the current engine options.

The remaining seven will have New Engine Options, but the company has not yet decided on which of the two choices it will take.

Amongst the new initiatives planned by Vistara is a soon-to-be-launched airport lounge in Delhi for domestic travellers and wireless streaming of content to personal entertainment devices on board.

Plan B ready In case the government does away with the 5/20 rule for airlines wishing to fly to foreign destinations, Vistara’s CEO said the airlines has a Plan B ready.

“We came in prepared to operate domestically, but if the rule goes away, we will look at what destinations we can fly to,” Yeoh said, quipping “We have a Plan B as well.”

Restrictions The rule was a disadvantage to Indian carriers, he said, pointing out that other countries had benefited when the aviation regime had been liberalised.

India gets 7.5 million tourists compared to 14 million to Singapore because of the constraint in how fast one can fly, he said, adding, “I am hopeful the 5/20 rule will go away very soon.”

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