We are still a crawling infant, wait for us to get up and run, says Vistara

Is poaching going on in the aviation industry?
If you target and go after your rival company to wipe out their pilots and other crew and staff members, then that is poaching. I don't think that is happening in the industry. I think it's more of people moving for better opportunity. I would not say that poaching exists in a big way. But yes, there is a lot of demand and very little supply (of trained personnel). So to that extend, there is going to be the tension in the market of who'll go where. It's no longer a seller's market, a buyer's market.

Where is the shortage?
In tech crew, I think, because of stringent flying-hour norms and specific jet type experience they need to have. Similarly, many firms don't take fresh pilots, and look for experienced ones. So, there is shortage (for experienced pilots). Safety trainers and flight despatchers are also not found in plenty.

Where are you sourcing your pilots from?
We take them from only India.

Have you been able to meet all your pilot requirement locally?
Till now, yes. The biggest advantage we have is the parentage of Tatas and SIA, a reason people want to join us. So, we have not faced an issue attracting people to our organisation.

You have opted for a three-class segmentation of seats. How is it working?
Yes, 70% of our aircraft is economy and balance 30% is premium economy and business. People are still getting used to premium economy because it is a new product. Getting people into economy is not an issue but people are learning about premium economy. We find a positive trend in demand for premium economy and business class. We are hardly six months in operation and our network is small. So, we are an infant crawling now. Wait for us to get up and run.

How brutal is the competition?
I don't want to comment on practices of other organisation but we, being a Tata group, will be above board and ethical in our practices. You cannot point a finger at Vistara.

Your closest rival AirAsia India seems to have taken some stride but why is that your pace of growth is yet to pick up?
I think we have been growing at a reasonable rate considering that we started on January 9 (2015) with just one station in Ahemdabad and two Mumbai. Today, we have 10 destinations and 243 flights a week. We have six aircraft and three more coming before the end of the financial year. We were around 125 people last year, and are 680 now. We have a complaint to compliment ratio of 1:12 which is unparalleled in the industry. Even SIA does not have this.

You have outdone your peers in terms of on-time-performance (OTP) but why does your load factor still remain below industry average?
Our OTP at 98% (over the past few months) is the best in the industry because we believe punctuality is hygiene. Another reason is our team work is very good. Our load factor is low because we do not have enough network. We are working on building it (network). Another reason is premium economy has yet to pick up in a big way.

With little clarity on aviation policy, what is happening to your plans for flying overseas?
If you look at our vision statement, we want to be a global airline. We will fly overseas as and when the government wants us to fly overseas. We will wait for the (aviation) policy. Let the cabinet decide and give us the norms we need to fulfill. We will meet them before we fly overseas.

Will you be ready by the time government comes out with it?
Hopefully, it (policy announcement) will not be five years. We will be ready to fly overseas as and when the government clears it. We have enough aircraft in place to fast track that. However, our focus currently is on domestic network. We have limited number of aircraft. So, we will need time to reach those levels of routes and capacity.

Will getting right type and number of aircraft be a problem?
We have chosen A320 to fly on domestic routes. These can also fly short haul international routes. I know of people who fly in A320s to Dubai. But we will take a call on which aircraft to use for long haul routes.

Of the two – short haul and long haul, which one is more profitable?
It can be both – short haul and long haul.

Many analysts believe short haul could be more profitable…
That's because you utilise your aircraft, like an A320, for domestic and overseas short haul destinations. It improves capacity utilisation. But, who has stopped anyone from flying Airbus A380s and Boeing B777s locally. If I look at Delhi-Mumbai route, I know A380 will go full. Both Mumbai and Delhi are equipped for handling A380. You can take more people and improve capacity utilisation of those aircraft by flying them on long haul foreign routes.