India’s full-service airline Vistara is looking to enhance its international presence, with a new report suggesting that it could start flights to Hong Kong and Mauritius. The airline recently welcomed an Airbus A321LR aircraft, and it is being reported that this could be the aircraft of choice for these two destinations.
New plane
On February 4th, Vistara inducted a brand-new Airbus A321 Long Range (LR) airplane into its fleet. Compared to other A320neo family jets, the A321LR offers a longer range of up to 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 kilometers) and can accommodate 206 passengers by utilizing extra fuel in three Additional Centre Tanks.
Naturally, Vistara would like to use the aircraft strategically, choosing routes that can benefit from the plane’s extended range. Simple Flying has also done a detailed analysis of where Vistara could deploy the plane.
The aircraft’s range opens up several international options for Vistara. From Delhi, it could comfortably fly to destinations such as Istanbul, Seoul, Tokyo, Milan, Barcelona, and Athens. But, it has been reported that Vistara could use the aircraft to fly to Hong Kong and Mauritius first.
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New routes
Business Standard has reported that Vistara is planning to launch flights to Mauritius and Hong Kong and also services to Europe from Mumbai. It plans to use the A321LR between Delhi and Hong Kong, even though this route can be covered by its regular A320 family of jets.
The other route where it could deploy the long-range A321 is between Mumbai and Mauritius. A source told Business Standard that Vistara could look to benefit by connecting passengers from Nepal and Bangladesh to Mauritius by the new flight, adding,
“There is year-round traffic to Mauritius from Bangladesh and Vistara would be able to connect them via Mumbai. But that will depend on its schedule.”
Currently, Air India and Cathay Pacific are the only airlines offering passenger service between Delhi and Hong Kong. Mumbai is connected to Mauritius by a direct service by Air Mauritius using its Airbus A330 aircraft. Delhi and Mauritius have no direct flights, but that change in May when Air Mauritius will begin flying this route twice a week.
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Fleet
The latest A321LR plane has taken Vistara’s fleet to 54 aircraft. It also has 42 Airbus A320s, five Airbus A321s, three Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, and three Boeing 737-800NG aircraft, of which one is inactive.
The airline will not order any new planes as it awaits its merger with Air India but will continue to honor its existing aircraft orders, the bulk of which will be put towards further international expansion.
A joint venture between Singapore Airlines and India’s Tata Group, Vistara will join forces with Air India to become a consolidated full-service carrier. The process is expected to finalize sometime next year.
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Source: Business Standard