Singapore Airlines Ltd. just picked a fight with Emirates in a grab for India’s international travelers, and a slice of one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets.
Singapore Air’s unprofitable Indian venture Vistara completed its first overseas flight -- between New Delhi and Singapore -- on Wednesday. It’s the start of an uphill battle against Middle East airline giants, led by Emirates and Etihad Airways PJSC, that dominate India’s offshore routes.
For Singapore Air, ambushed all over Southeast Asia by budget airlines, the prize is clear. The number of passengers in India will more than triple to 520 million by 2037, the International Air Transport Association says. And of the 63 million people that flew to and from the country last year, two thirds were carried by foreign airlines.
Middle Eastern carriers have the biggest market share in air travel to India
Vistara will focus on growth in Southeast Asia and the Middle East this year, Chief Executive Officer Leslie Thng told reporters in Singapore after its maiden offshore flight touched down at Changi airport at about 8 a.m. on Wednesday. The company plans to have a fleet of 41 by the end of this year, and increase it to as many as 70 by 2023, Thng said.
Vistara, 49% owned by Singapore Air and 51% by Indian conglomerate Tata Group, started out in January 2015. India doesn’t allow foreign airlines to fly between local airports, unless they partner with a local company to start a domestic airline.
07/08/19 Anurag Kotoky/Manish Modi/Kyunghee Park/Bloomberg
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Singapore Air’s unprofitable Indian venture Vistara completed its first overseas flight -- between New Delhi and Singapore -- on Wednesday. It’s the start of an uphill battle against Middle East airline giants, led by Emirates and Etihad Airways PJSC, that dominate India’s offshore routes.
For Singapore Air, ambushed all over Southeast Asia by budget airlines, the prize is clear. The number of passengers in India will more than triple to 520 million by 2037, the International Air Transport Association says. And of the 63 million people that flew to and from the country last year, two thirds were carried by foreign airlines.
Middle Eastern carriers have the biggest market share in air travel to India
Vistara will focus on growth in Southeast Asia and the Middle East this year, Chief Executive Officer Leslie Thng told reporters in Singapore after its maiden offshore flight touched down at Changi airport at about 8 a.m. on Wednesday. The company plans to have a fleet of 41 by the end of this year, and increase it to as many as 70 by 2023, Thng said.
Vistara, 49% owned by Singapore Air and 51% by Indian conglomerate Tata Group, started out in January 2015. India doesn’t allow foreign airlines to fly between local airports, unless they partner with a local company to start a domestic airline.
07/08/19 Anurag Kotoky/Manish Modi/Kyunghee Park/Bloomberg
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