Vistara plans to launch flight services to Hong Kong and Mauritius

Vistara plans to launch services to Hong Kong and Mauritius, and connect Mumbai with Europe as the airline sharpens its international focus.

The Tata group-run airline on Monday inducted an Airbus A321LR, the first by an Indian carrier. Vistara now has 54 planes and will add six more in 2023.

The Airbus A321LR aircraft has an increased maximum take-off weight of 97 tonnes, and an extra auxiliary centre fuel tank, giving it a longer range.

Vistara plans to start service between Mumbai-Mauritius and Delhi-Hong Kong with the A321LR aircraft, it has been learnt. Currently, it flies to Frankfurt, London, and Paris only from Delhi. A Mumbai-London service is also under consideration.

"We are excited to welcome the first A321LR to our growing fleet. This addition reiterates our strong focus on international expansion and enables us to offer longer range connectivity to our customers while also maintaining greater fuel efficiency," the airline's CEO Vinod Kannan said in a statement.

Currently Air India and Cathay Pacific operate flights between India and Hong Kong. Cathay Pacific, which flies 13 weekly flights to India, is looking to add services to the summer schedule, following the removal of Covid-19 restrictions in Hong Kong. Similarly, Air Mauritius, which operates six weekly flights to Mumbai, shall fly to Delhi twice a week from May 4.

Last year, 37,000 Indian tourists visited Mauritius and traffic is expected to grow in 2023.

Apart from leisure travel demand, Vistara can also offer connections to passengers from Nepal and Bangladesh. “There is year-round traffic to Mauritius from Bangladesh and Vistara would be able to connect them via Mumbai. But that will depend on its schedule,” an aviation source said.

Vistara has grown its operations in Mumbai. In the past two years, it increased daily flights from the city to 50, against 38 in mid-2019. It connects to 11 international destinations (Colombo and Dammam starting in March) against seven from Delhi. It flies to West Asia only from Mumbai and that has been due to its inability to secure slots from Delhi airport.