India’s full-service carrier Vistara has launched a new international service, connecting Pune in western India with Singapore. The airline has been on an international expansion spree recently, particularly to shorter offshore routes in the Middle East. It has also increased frequencies to long-haul destinations in Europe after welcoming a third Dreamliner in its fleet recently.
Pune-Singapore flight
On December 2nd, Vistara became the only airline to start non-stop service between Pune (PNQ) and Singapore (SIN). The flight will be operated by an Airbus A321neo aircraft four times a week. An inaugural event was organized at the Pune airport, which was attended by Gavin Roch, Vice Consul, Consul General of the Republic of Singapore, along with other officials and ministers, and was attended virtually by India’s aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Vistara’s Chief Executive Office, Vinod Kannan, commented,
“We are excited to be able to connect Pune and Singapore - two cities that were not directly connected thus far. There is a growing demand for air travel between the two cities especially from corporate travellers. We are confident that customers will appreciate having the option of flying India’s best airline on this sector.”
The schedule of the flights is as follows:
Sector |
Flight No. |
Days of Operation |
Departure |
Arrival |
Find Flights |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pune-Singapore |
UK 111 |
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday |
0210 |
1030 |
|
Singapore-Pune |
UK 112 |
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday |
1150 |
1515 |
Vistara also flies to Singapore from Delhi (DEL) and Mumbai (BOM) and is one of many carriers flying to the Southeast Asian destination. Along with carriers like Air India, IndiGo, and others, Singapore Airlines, too, has multiple weekly departures from key Indian cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad, among others.
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Other new routes
Pune-Singapore is one of many international routes launched by Vistara recently. In August, it began flying between Mumbai and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, becoming one of six airlines flying on this route.
In October, it also launched a non-stop service between Mumbai and Abu Dhabi, further increasing its footprint in the Gulf region.
In November, it added one more international route to its network, between Mumbai and Dhaka, and from December 12th, will start flying between Mumbai and Muscat.
The airline also has long-haul experience ambitions, having recently received a third Dreamliner on lease and increasing frequencies to Frankfurt and Paris. Kannan also recently said he hopes to launch the US "in the coming months." Of course, he did not indicate where Vistara will fly or when they'll begin, or to what degree it'll rely on partner United Airlines.
Future
Recently, the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines announced that Air India will merge with Vistara to form a consolidated full-service carrier. The transaction is estimated to be completed by March 2024.
Vinod Kannan has said that until the merger is complete, it will be business as usual for Vistara. He also assured more than 4,500 employees of the airline that they should not be worried about the future, adding,
"There will definitely be multiple opportunities - for growth, elevation and progress. Therefore, I urge you not to worry and speculate about your future.... I can assure you that we are on this journey together and will emerge stronger at the end of it."
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The merged entity of Air India and Vistara will look to make further inroads into the Indian domestic market as well as consolidate international business and challenge the monopoly of India’s largest carrier IndiGo.
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