NEW DELHI, 30 Nov 2015.
India's new domestic carrier, Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, announced that it has added a ninth aircraft to its fleet of Airbus A-320s. The airline had commenced commercial operations this year on Jan. 9. Vistara became India's third full service airline after national carrier Air India and private airline Jet Airways.
The latest aircraft "will allow us to further enhance our capacity on our key routes and allow many more customers to fly a new feeling with Vistara," said Phee Teik Yeoh, Vistara's chief executive, in a statement. "With this addition, our fleet induction for the year is complete."
Like all its previous aircraft, Vistara's latest plane has 148 seats -- 16 business, 36 premium economy and 96 economy. Though its economy class is doing well, industry analysts say Vistara has struggled to fill business seats, the passenger load factor was around 60% compared to the industry average of over 80%.
Vistara, in which Tata Sons holds a 51% stake and SIA the rest.
It operates nearly 300 flights a week across 12 destinations in India. It has serviced over 100 thousand passengers already. It offers passengers facilities such as in-flight entertainment, checked baggage, meals and beverages in the ticket price. Their seats generally have more leg room than those of the low-cost budget airlines.