New Delhi: “We still treat Air India as a competition. Vistara is a better option. We are a completely separate organization and will continue to do so unless we are told otherwise.” Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan Tata Group told TOI on Tuesday in its first interaction after taking over low-cost Air India Express and full-service AI last month. Tata holds a 51% stake in full-service Vistara, and Singapore Airlines (SIA) holds the remaining 49%.
SIA not on board yet for merger with three others Tata Group Airlines AI, AI Express and AirAsia India Private Limited (AAIPL). “There are benefits to bringing them together and harmonizing. It gives you scale. At the same time, it’s a question of discussion among shareholders. There are definitely going to be potential benefits from the merger. When that will happen, when that will happen, don’t know.” I am not involved in that discussion,” Kannan said.
The focus of this full service airline is to build the only one, Vistara brand apart from AI, no matter what happens in the future. “Two of our shareholders are still in support of Vistara and its stand. Yes, discussions can take place on a future date which is speculative and I am not involved in it. When something like this happens, the market will be informed,” said Kannan.
Have the purse strings tightened for Vistara after Tata acquired AI? “I don’t think so. The commitment of both the stakeholders has been very, very strong. Whenever we have needed equity during the pandemic, they have always supported us on justification. You can see it in equity and funding announcements in the future. Will see,” said Kannan.
While the future is yet to be decided, Vistara could benefit from the synergy with Tata, which now has a large presence in the Indian airline space. “We will keep an arm’s length (from AI) on issues that are either customer-facing or commercially sensitive. But as a larger entity, synergy can be a plus and downside. It can happen but even those discussions have not happened at this stage.”
Due to Boeing’s indefinite delay in the delivery of Dreamliners, Vistara is looking at options for interim wide body capacity augmentation so that it can launch nonstop to distant destinations such as the US, where there is a huge demand for travel from India. “We have two Boeing 787 Dreamliners and two more were to be inducted at the end of last year. We expect to get at least two more by the end of this calendar year. There has been no firm confirmation from Boeing about this. We don’t know if it will come to fruition.”
“We are trying to see if an interim capacity increase is possible. The market is about to open up and we are looking at options including nonstop for the US. We have started operational preparations for the flight in the US. The only headwind is that crude is at around $100. Direct flights to the US are fuel-intensive. While fares may be higher now, they will drop once capacity returns (regular flights resume). Those things also come into play during our evaluation. A decision will be taken in the coming weeks,” Kannan said.
SIA not on board yet for merger with three others Tata Group Airlines AI, AI Express and AirAsia India Private Limited (AAIPL). “There are benefits to bringing them together and harmonizing. It gives you scale. At the same time, it’s a question of discussion among shareholders. There are definitely going to be potential benefits from the merger. When that will happen, when that will happen, don’t know.” I am not involved in that discussion,” Kannan said.
The focus of this full service airline is to build the only one, Vistara brand apart from AI, no matter what happens in the future. “Two of our shareholders are still in support of Vistara and its stand. Yes, discussions can take place on a future date which is speculative and I am not involved in it. When something like this happens, the market will be informed,” said Kannan.
Have the purse strings tightened for Vistara after Tata acquired AI? “I don’t think so. The commitment of both the stakeholders has been very, very strong. Whenever we have needed equity during the pandemic, they have always supported us on justification. You can see it in equity and funding announcements in the future. Will see,” said Kannan.
While the future is yet to be decided, Vistara could benefit from the synergy with Tata, which now has a large presence in the Indian airline space. “We will keep an arm’s length (from AI) on issues that are either customer-facing or commercially sensitive. But as a larger entity, synergy can be a plus and downside. It can happen but even those discussions have not happened at this stage.”
Due to Boeing’s indefinite delay in the delivery of Dreamliners, Vistara is looking at options for interim wide body capacity augmentation so that it can launch nonstop to distant destinations such as the US, where there is a huge demand for travel from India. “We have two Boeing 787 Dreamliners and two more were to be inducted at the end of last year. We expect to get at least two more by the end of this calendar year. There has been no firm confirmation from Boeing about this. We don’t know if it will come to fruition.”
“We are trying to see if an interim capacity increase is possible. The market is about to open up and we are looking at options including nonstop for the US. We have started operational preparations for the flight in the US. The only headwind is that crude is at around $100. Direct flights to the US are fuel-intensive. While fares may be higher now, they will drop once capacity returns (regular flights resume). Those things also come into play during our evaluation. A decision will be taken in the coming weeks,” Kannan said.
,