Tata Group-backed Vistara plans to expand its flight network by one-third, to take the total of flights to 700 a week. The addition will result in higher frequencies between key metro routes on Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, among others, the airline said on Thursday.
The development comes amid a report released by aviation consultancy firm CAPA on Wednesday about Vistara likely placing an order for around 100 aircraft by the end of the current quarter.
According to the figures provided by the airline, it flew 1.15 million passengers between January and April 2017, a year-on-year growth of 80% over the corresponding period last year when it flew over 640,000 passengers, even though its fleet in the period increased by just 44%.
The number of destinations flown increased by 46%, from 13 to 19. The airline attributed the improved performance to higher utilisation of aircraft compared to the same period last year, coupled with a 7 percentage point increase in its average load factor from 75% to 82%.
As per the plans, the 30% increase in capacity will take the number of flights on Delhi–Mumbai sector to 10 daily, and on Delhi-Bengaluru sector to 5 per day. Similarly, the flights on Delhi–Pune will increase to 3 every day.
Commenting on the development, Sanjiv Kapoor, chief strategy & commercial officer of the airline said, "Vistara has aggressively ramped up its network and aircraft utilisation in the last one year, and has also focused on filling its planes through a combination of attractive fares, especially for those willing to plan and book in advance, along with improved network and superior customer experience."
"We will continue to expand significantly this year as we add more aircraft in our fleet in the coming months." he added.
CAPA, in its aviation outlook for FY2018 released in February, had projected that the government's decision to remove the 5-year qualification requirement for domestic airlines to be permitted to operate international services and to retain only the 20-aircraft threshold may push newcomers like Vistara and AirAsia India to expand on domestic routes faster than planned. Vistara could bring forward deliveries to add six aircraft in FY2018, taking its fleet size of 20 aircraft by the end of the fiscal.
Kapoor had earlier told DNA Money that once the airline starts flying international, the obvious routes would be to neighbouring and SAARC countries, considering the fact that its fleet constitutes A320 aircraft which can be used for flying for about 3.5-hours distance.
...& ANALYSIS
- The development comes amid a report released by CAPA about Vistara likely placing an order for around 100 aircraft by the end of the current quarter
- Vistara flew 1.15 million passengers during January-April 2017, up 80% over the year-ago period
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