New Delhi: Vistara, the airline started by Tata Sons and Singapore International Airlines which is slated to start operations from 9 January, is all set to change the rules of aviation in India. So far, full-service carriers like Jet Airways and Air India have mostly stuck to a two-class configuration, economy and business, in their networks. They have chosen to price their limited number of business class seats (12 to 28) three to five times higher than economy class seats. The fatter margins help them combat the low-cost carriers with inexpensive economy fares.
Vistara has a different plan. It has drawn up a three-class configuration for the first time for India. Apart from business and economy, there is on offer a new premium economy class that will have 36 seats and will be priced at about twice the economy fare and half the business fare. In the beginning of this year, Air India had tried to launch a premium economy class on a few domestic routes (Delhi-Guwahati, for instance) in the first two rows, with facilities such as check-ins from executive class counters and access to airport lounges, but the state-owned airline does not appear to be pushing this attempt at all. It was left to Vistara to exploit this segment in an aggressive way. The question is: Is there a market in this category?
23/12/14 Surajeet Das Gupta/Business Standard
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Vistara has a different plan. It has drawn up a three-class configuration for the first time for India. Apart from business and economy, there is on offer a new premium economy class that will have 36 seats and will be priced at about twice the economy fare and half the business fare. In the beginning of this year, Air India had tried to launch a premium economy class on a few domestic routes (Delhi-Guwahati, for instance) in the first two rows, with facilities such as check-ins from executive class counters and access to airport lounges, but the state-owned airline does not appear to be pushing this attempt at all. It was left to Vistara to exploit this segment in an aggressive way. The question is: Is there a market in this category?
23/12/14 Surajeet Das Gupta/Business Standard
