Vistara has today outlined the plan for the resumption of services that were halted temporarily due to the pandemic. The airline plans to not only restore pre-COVID standards of customer experience but, in their words, to exceed it in the coming months. LFAL had outlined numerous service cuts in a recent writeup.

Vistara’s F&B service improvement plan

As previously reported by LiveFromALounge, on its domestic network, Vistara has brought back the choice of non-vegetarian meals in Economy Class on all eligible flights, effective January 1, 2022. Vistara has also resumed serving tea and coffee, including Starbucks, on select routes and will progressively restart this service on all flights with a flying time of 90 minutes and above. Vistara has also re-introduced menu cards in Business Class, starting February 14, 2022, and will increase the choice of meals for its Premium Economy and Business Class customers soon.

In fact, Vistara is encouraging customers to tweet about meals again.

Veg Jalfrezi, Rice, Dal and that heavenly Carrot cake with berry blast – I asked for another one, delicious food!#DiningOnVistara was delicious thanks to Daman Pathak & team at @airvistara @tajsats pic.twitter.com/L449Bf0GIB

— Vishal Jolapara (@VishalJolapara) February 14, 2022

On international routes as well, Vistara has resumed the service of hot beverages including a range of teas and freshly brewed Starbucks coffee. Effective February 1, 2022, Vistara has enhanced the choice of alcoholic beverages in all three cabin classes. On short to medium-haul routes, menu cards are back in Business Class and the airline has already made a full bar available to all customers. Vistara will be resuming these on the long-haul routes along with increasing the meal options for customers.

Vistara to add more content on their IFE platform.

The airline will also be improving its inflight entertainment (IFE) offerings across its domestic as well as international network by introducing a wider variety of engaging content which will be updated frequently. This was a pain point also highlighted in our 100-day plan for Vistara.

While Vistara has promised more enhancements in the press release it issued, these have not been listed, nor is the timeline for these enhancements.

Deepak Rajawat, Chief Commercial Officer, Vistara, said,

“Safety of our customers and staff has been our topmost priority, and takes precedence over all other considerations. As the world inches closer to normalcy now, we are delighted to bring back some of the services that were discontinued in view of customer safety. Vistara is committed to providing a world-class flying experience, backed by the continued support of our parent companies, Tata group and Singapore Airlines.  While we are restoring our services progressively and systematically, we will also be introducing new enhancements at various customer touchpoints.”

Bottomline

Vistara is finally coming around to admitting that there was indeed a problem that is being fixed now. While the DGCA regulations have not been amended, Vistara has decided to move forward on high-touch service, resuming the service of beverages, hot meals and alcohol on board. This could also be an impact of the change of management at the top, or the arrival of a rejuvenated Air India. However, a lot needs to be done, on the ground experience, IT solutions amongst others.

What do you think of Vistara’s resumption of service? Too little too late? Or is it a start of the return to its original roots of good service?

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