Vistara has been busy adding international capacity and making Mumbai the international hub it should have been. After launching Mumbai – Doha flights recently, the airline has today announced a boost on some of their existing routes out of Mumbai.
Vistara connects Mumbai to 14 international destinations, including Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Colombo, Dammam, Dhaka, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Jeddah, London Heathrow, Male, Mauritius, Muscat, and Singapore.
Vistara goes daily on Mumbai – London Heathrow effective March 2024
Vistara will increase the flight frequency between Mumbai and London Heathrow, moving it from 4x weekly to daily flights, starting March 1, 2024. Vistara launched the flight 5 times a week on June 1, 2024 (it used to operate the route during the pandemic as well). However, the flight was reduced to 4 times a week from October 29, 2023, to January 25, 2024.
While it was earlier reported as per GDS filings that Vistara would go daily on the route effective January 26, 2024, it now seems that this plan has been moved to March 1, 2024, as per an official announcement by the airline. Till then, the flight will continue to operate four times a week.
The schedule of the flight, effective March 1, 2024, will be as follows,
Vistara also operates daily flights between Delhi and London Heathrow.
Vistara to add a second daily flight between Mumbai and Singapore effective February 2024
Vistara will introduce a second daily flight between Mumbai and Singapore from February 1, 2024, using its A321neo aircraft. The Mumbai – Singapore route was the second-ever route launched by the airline, one day after the Delhi – Singapore route was established in 2019. Now, it is time to double down on this route. Vistara also recently made its Pune – Singapore flight a 6x weekly frequency.
The schedule for Vistara’s Mumbai – Singapore and return operations will be as follows:
Bottomline
As international traffic picks up, Vistara will send its A321 aircraft to more extended missions, generating more revenue for the airline. The 787-9 operated flight to London Heathrow will also go daily next year with the addition of one more aircraft to Vistara’s 787 fleet.
What do you make of Vistara’s international plans with the 787-9s and the A321neos?
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Curious why did Vistara not choose A350 for BOM-LHR. Have perhaps been better from fleet synergy standpoint?
@R when they don’t have the A350 in their fleet, how do they choose it?
What I meant was why did Vistara not opt for Airbus for long haul in the first place. I am guessing they planned the routes first, or may be I’m wrong – they decided to purchase the planes first and bought whatever was cheapest. And then figured where to put them!
@R, There is a lot of planning that goes into ordering aircraft. UK was planning for their long-haul flights with widebodies, and regionals with the A321neo, which ultimately has a lower breakeven per flight and a lower cost of operation. Ultimately, it is not about picking up cheaper aircraft. It is about cost of operations, delivery timelines, timing of delivery available and many other things.
As I mentioned in my first post, it was a question out of curiosity 🙂 I’m sure an airline plans thoroughly before making such decisions, but there are things that some are doing right, while others are executing the same poorly – and therefore the curiosity!
@R, could you add more context to things that some are doing right and others are poorly with examples for me to be able to get insight into your thought process and react?
You are an aviation expert, so I am sure you know more! High ATF prices, competitive intensity are consistently blamed for lack of airlines’ profitability in India but why does one airline continue to be profitable (it is a level playing field after all)? Nevertheless, there are numerous case studies on Indigo versus others with emphasis on low fleet diversity. A read on Southwest versus others will exemplify other aspects. That’s not the point anyway. As I previously alluded, my point was fairly simple – I was curious to get some thoughts on why Vistara did not opt for an A350 on premium routes from India to London, considering the aircraft’s optimum capacity and fleet diversity reasons. Your reaction therefore on comparison on different airlines’ business models may not be warranted!
@R, 6E’s black box of income is the premium of millions of dollars it receives every time a plane is inducted as a part of the Sale and Leaseback model. Vistara, on the other hand, took most planes as leased (rather than placing their own order, driving prices down, and then selling them in back-to-back transactions to lessors). As for their 787s, they are owned by the airline, but the levels of discount you can get for buying six planes are low compared to the ones you can get for 100s of 787s as some other American airlines do. The fact that IndiGo carries people around is incidental to its profitability.