Mumbai: : Vistara, the airline jointly owned by the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, is working on plans to launch international flights and for the next round of funding, boosted by the new civil aviation policy that allows it to fly abroad without waiting to complete five years of local operations.
It will induct wide-bodied, longhaul planes and consider starting direct flights to the UK and US, Chief Executive Phee Teik Yeoh told ETin an interview. Vistara expects fresh capital infusion from the two parents, and the management and promoters will discuss this over the next couple of weeks, he said.
"We have had international plans right from the start of our operations. We will now have to see how fast we can start and gear up," Yeoh said. The next six to nine months will be full of developments for Vistara, he added.
The airline's ambitious plans come to light after the government on Wednesday relaxed a 12-year-old rule under which an Indian carrier had to operate on domestic routes for five years and have a fleet of at least 20 planes to be allowed to fly on international routes. The new rule abolishes the five-year requirement, though it retains the one for 20 aircraft. The change is expected to benefit Vistara and AirAsia's local unit, both partly owned by Tata Sons.
17/06/16 Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
It will induct wide-bodied, longhaul planes and consider starting direct flights to the UK and US, Chief Executive Phee Teik Yeoh told ETin an interview. Vistara expects fresh capital infusion from the two parents, and the management and promoters will discuss this over the next couple of weeks, he said.
"We have had international plans right from the start of our operations. We will now have to see how fast we can start and gear up," Yeoh said. The next six to nine months will be full of developments for Vistara, he added.
The airline's ambitious plans come to light after the government on Wednesday relaxed a 12-year-old rule under which an Indian carrier had to operate on domestic routes for five years and have a fleet of at least 20 planes to be allowed to fly on international routes. The new rule abolishes the five-year requirement, though it retains the one for 20 aircraft. The change is expected to benefit Vistara and AirAsia's local unit, both partly owned by Tata Sons.
17/06/16 Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times
