Vistara plans to increase its fleet size to 70 planes within two years and add manpower to match the growth, CEO Vinod Kannan said on Tuesday.
“We will go from a 50-aircraft fleet to 70 by the end of 2023 and will ramp up manpower to man those aircraft, “ Mr Kannan said in an interview. On adding bigger planes that would enable the airline to fly on medium and long-haul international routes, the CEO said that Vistara expects to add four more Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and six Airbus A321s within the same time-frame. It currently has two Boeing 787-9s and four A321s.
Since late 2020, Boeing has paused the delivery of Dreamliners due to manufacturing issues, which it is trying to resolve with regulators. This has also hampered Vistara’s international expansion plans. Vistara has asked Boeing about the number of Dreamliners it will be able to deliver this year, and is awaiting a response.
“The issue with Boeing has been a concern and we would have loved to ramp up further because direct flights from India are getting traction and we have seen a good demand on our long-haul flights whether it is London, Frankfurt or Paris. That’s an opportunity lost for us,” Mr. Kannan said.
Vistara forayed into international flights in August, 2019, just six months before the pandemic. Between 2020 and 2021, apart from regional flights the airline also introduced long-haul flights to London, Frankfurt, Paris and medium-haul flights to Tokyo despite travel restrictions hampering demand from passengers. But as countries relax curbs and with summer approaching, the the carrier senses an opportunity to reap the benefits of some of these new routes, especially with international flights known to make airlines more money than domestic ones.
Vistara currently has 25% of its capacity on international routes, and hopes to take that to 30-35% by the end of this financial year. Asked about customer feedback on lack of meal choices onboard and discontinuing hot beverages, the CEO said services were scaled down due to SOPs issued by the regulator as well as customer expectations gauged from interviews. Going forward, however, the airline plans to offer greater meal choices than before the start of the pandemic. The airline recently announced that it had brought back non-vegetarian meals in Economy Class and resumed serving tea and coffee, including Starbucks.
In a recent letter to the airline’s customers, the CEO had acknowledged the airline’s shortcomings and offered an assurance that the gaps would be filled on a “war footing”.
Mr. Kannan also noted that there had been “challenges in staffing” as passenger demand rose between October and December last year, adding that the airline had started recruitment of ground handling personnel as well as customer care providers to improve passenger service.
