A Look At How Vistara Uses Its Boeing 787 Fleet

Simple Flying

By Pranjal Pande

Published May 23, 2022

Vistara only has two 787s due to Boeing's current delivery pause, but this has made the carrier use its planes efficiently.

Vistara's remaining four 787-9s remain parked in the desert as Boeing awaits FAA approval to resume deliveries. Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

It's been nearly two years since Vistara launched long-haul flights, becoming India's second airline to do so. However, a delivery pause on the Dreamliners has meant the carrier has been pushing its 787s to cover as much ground as safely possible. Here's a look at a week in the operations of the 787 and where it could go next.

Two planes, three cities

Vistara operates two 787-9s currently, registered VT-TSD and -TSE. These aircraft are primarily used to fly to three cities, London, Paris, and Frankfurt, along with an occasional domestic leg added. So how does Vistara pull it off? Let's take a look at last week's schedule.

Currently, the full-service carrier is flying to London every day, effectively dedicating one Dreamliner to the route. On Monday, the first 787 will depart at 14:40 local time and land in London at 19:50. The return leg will take off at 22:05 and return to Delhi the next morning at 10:55 AM.

Vistara will induct a third Boeing 787 aircraft on lease to boost its long-haul operations. Photo: Getty Images

Two hours later, on Tuesday afternoon, the first Dreamliner is back in the sky, flying to Frankfurt at 13:20 local time and landing at 18:55. After an under two-hour stop, the first 787 is back in Delhi at 08:15 AM with two full days of flying under its belt. That afternoon, at 14:30, the plane was off to Paris, the third long-haul destination of the week scheduled for Vistara.

Alternating planes

While the first 787 flies to Frankfurt on Tuesday, Vistara's second Dreamliner takes over the London route. Both planes need to spend at least a day on the ground, which means weekly rotations can't exceed 12. This explains why the airline is currently flying 7x times to London, 3x to Frankfurt, and 2x to Paris.

Vistara is using the 787 within its safe limits to try and offer as much capacity as possible on key routes like London. Photo: Vistara

Last week, the second 787 spent five days (Tuesday-Saturday) straight, only flying between Delhi and London, only taking a day off on Monday. On Sunday, the aircraft closed its week off in a quick trip to Paris before the much-needed rest day.

Not the solution

While keeping aircraft utilization high is helpful for the bottom line, it makes it very hard to deal with disruption. If even one Dreamliner went out of service for any reason, including bad weather or maintenance issues, Vistara would see half its schedule collapse overnight. This is why airlines avoid trying to push utilization until they have enough plans to cover potential issues.

For now, Vistara is hoping that Boeing's 787 troubles with the FAA are resolved by the second quarter, as the American giant recently said in its earnings call. The pause is holding back the airline's expansion, which has publicly said that they want a second DEL-LHR flight and a new BOM-LHR as quickly as possible.

What do you think about Vistara's 787 utilization? Let us know in the comments!