The woes of the national carrier Air India are in fact an opportunity for India's private airlines to gain a foothold internationally. The low-cost carrier IndiGo has stepped up its international presence in recent years. The carrier mainly serves the Gulf region, South East Asia and even Istanbul.
But above all Vistara which aims to become an alternative between Europe and India. The carrier is a joint venture between Tata Sons Private Ltd and Singapore Airlines Ltd. The carrier benefits from the excellent reputation of its Singaporean shareholder.
The first domestic flights of the company began in 2015 and it's in 2019 that the carrier launched its first international lines to Bangkok and Singapore. It is also landing in the Middle East, notably in Doha, Dubai and since January in Sharjah.
However, Vistara's ambition is to become a key player in India-Europe traffic.. At the end of August, Vistara launched on Delhi-London Heathrow. Since December, the airline has been offering a daily flight by Boeing 787-9. The carrier is inaugurating the 16 January three weekly frequencies between Heathrow and Mumbai (Bombay). flights take place every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
On 18 February, the company will be landing in a second European city, in this case Frankfurt. The airline will offer two weekly flights, on Thursday and Saturday..
These two new destinations are also served by Boeing 787-9. On all its European routes, the carrier offers a three-class product -Business, Premium Economy and Economy. Flights to Germany and the UK are part of 'travel bubbles' authorised by the Indian, German and British governments.
According to the Indian civil aviation website, there are also other "travel bubbles" with France and the Netherlands. We can therefore imagine that Vistara could also land in Paris in the short term.
Chronicle of a Jet Airways comeback
The company feels all the more encouraged to speed up its European breakthrough with the announcement of the return of a traditional name to Indian skies. Jet Airways hopes to resume operations in the summer of 2021. India's second largest airline had been declared bankrupt at the end of 2018 and had suspended all its lines in April 2019.
The news Jet Airways 2.0 has nothing in common with its predecessor, apart from the name.. It is owned by a consortium of Emirates businessman Murari Lal Jalan and London-based asset management company Kalrock Capital.
Jet Airways 2.0 aims to operate again its hubs in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi with a network of domestic and international routes. "The vision of the consortium is to regain lost ground, set new benchmarks for the airline industry with the image of being once again the best premium airline operating on domestic and international routes," according to Manoj Narendrer Madnani, a member of the consortium's board of directors.
"Jet is a brand that has over 25 years of glorious history. We want to reinvigorate the brand by breathing new energy into it," he added. However, the carrier will have to obtain the green light from the Indian civil aviation authorities before it can take to the skies.
