The Singapore Airlines–Tata Sons joint venture Vistara is set to launch its inaugural flight this Friday.
Having just taken delivery of its third Airbus A320 aircraft this week, Vistara will soon begin services between Delhi–Mumbai, Delhi–Ahmedabad and Mumbai–Ahmedabad.
Bookings for the carrier’s new services have opened and are available for purchase.
Vistara will have a three-class cabin layout, with business class offering a 42-inch seat pitch and seven inches of recline; premium economy that comes with a 33 to 36 inch pitch and a 4.5-inch recline; and economy with a 30-inch pitch and 3.5 inches of recline. While the seat dimensions appear to be fairly competitive when compared to Jet Airways' domestic product, Vistara lags behind those offered by Air India.
By comparison, Air India's domestic business seat boasts a seat pitch of 47 inches, and a recline of 7.5 inches. The flag carrier of India's economy class product also fares better than Vistara by offering a seat pitch of 31 to 33 inches, as well as a recline of 6.5 inches.
In keeping with a full-service business model, inflight dining is offered across all cabin classes, with meals on business class being served on fine linens and bone china tableware.
The airline also maintains a frequent flyer programme (FFP) known as Club Vistara that is available in three tiers – base, silver (25,000 points) and gold (50,000 points). Miles can be accrued and redeemed, and progressing through higher tiers allows passengers to enjoy a growing number of attractive benefits. For a complete list, see below.
Source: Live from a Lounge
The airline will be implementing a revenue-based accrual system for its FFP, with five points being awarded for every INR 100 (US$1.57) spent on fares.
According to The Economic Times, Vistara will maintain a fleet comprised entirely of leased aircraft from Singapore-based lessor, BOC Aviation. The airline is aiming to have a fleet of five aircraft by the end of the month.
As previously reported by Business Traveller Asia-Pacific (see here), the joint venture airline will be based in Delhi, and operate routes around India, with Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Srinagar, Patna and Chandigarh touted as destinations during its first year of operation.
Vistara is looking to operate a total of 87 flights in 2015, with this growing to 301 flights by 2018 when the carrier aims to be operating a fleet of 20 aircraft.
For more information, visit airvistara.com
Clement Huang
