Vistara spreads its wings to Hyderabad

Source: Deccan Chronicle   Dt: March 2, 2015

Hyderabad: The newly launched Full Service Carrier Vistara has spread its wings to Hyderabad beginning operations in the city. The Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines joint venture first flew from Hyderabad to New Delhi on Sunday morning. Airline officials said they will consider adding more flights to Hyderabad as the fleet grows. Hyderabad is currently the only South Indian city it operates from with a weekly frequency of 14 flights on one side. The first Vistara flight from Hyderabad to the national capital took off at 9.15 am with the chief executive officer Phee Teik Yeoh and chief commercial officer Giam Ming Toh on board.

“Hyderabad is the first South Indian city we are flying to. Unlike other cities, the Aviation Turbine Fuel prices here make it cost effective. We came to Hyderabad before other cities in the south,” Phee Teik Yeoh said. Asked if the city could see more flights from Vistara, he said, “Why not? You will hear from us on that. We are going to release our summer schedule soon.” But it might not be until October before Vistara expands its schedule in Hyderabad.

Giam Ming Toh said, “We are currently constrained by the size of our fleet. We have five aircrafts (Airbus A320) now and the number will increase to seven by September and hopefully nine by the end of the year. And there are the Route Dispersal Guidelines also. With Hyderabad we have added a metro city so now we will have to add a non-metro.”  Vistara which has international ambitions is vocal against the 5/20 rule. The central government is also considering scrapping the rule but officials say that it might not be entirely done away with but only modified. The rule mandates that an airline should complete five years of domestic operations and have at least a 20 strong fleet to be eligible for international operations.

“There are no Indian airlines flying to Malaysia or many other countries. Singapore Airlines alone operates more flights to the United States than all Indian airlines put together. You are not allowing your aviation to grow,” Ming Toh said.Teik Yeoh said that the government has also realized the rule must be scrapped. Though it suffered on the Passenger Load Factor, Vistara had the highest On Time Performance among all domestic carriers at 89 per cent. “We beat all other airlines. That is the kind of service we are looking at. PLF is just a number because if I reduce the fares to `500 then it will increase to 100 per cent automatically.”

Vistara says it is looking to compete in the airfare market but wants to exploit untapped potential. “We are the first airline to introduce premium economy class in the domestic aviation sector. We have 20 per cent lesser seats (148) than the maximum seats used by most airlines so it is more comfortable for the passenger,” he added.