Vistara CEO

Vistara is nimble enough to make course corrections, its CEO Vinod Kannan said on Wednesday. The full service carrier, which is in the process of getting merged with Air India, recently faced significant disruptions due to pilot woes and now, the operations are getting stabilised. Speaking at a session at the CAPA India Aviation Summit 2024 in the national capital, Kannan said the merger is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The merger process has started and Kannan said the merger is for growth and not for cutting costs. According to him, India is a unique market and there is space for full service carriers in general. Vistara is "nimble enough to make course corrections and humble enough...," he said. On the merger, Kannan said the people fitment process for staff, who are not in the operations side, is expected to be completed by month end or next month. The merger is awaiting approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Vistara, a joint venture bet

After Vistara cancellations, it's the turn of another Tata airline to face crisis

After facing significant flight disruptions recently, Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan on Thursday told the airline staff that the "worst is behind us" and operations have already stabilised. Pilot woes have forced the Tata Group airline to temporarily cut down capacity by 10 per cent or 25-30 flights daily. While acknowledging that things should have been planned better, Kannan said it has been a "learning experience". He also said it has been a challenging start to the new financial year and the airline faced significant operational disruption from March 31 to April 2. "The anxiety and frustration felt by our customers was matched in even measure to the pain that all of us felt in seeing our much-loved brand drawing negative commentary from various quarters... I assure you that the worst is behind us, and we have already stabilised our operations, with our on-time performance (OTP) increasing to 89 per cent on 9 April 2024 (second highest among all Indian airlines)," he said in a message

After facing significant flight disruptions due to the non-availability of crew, Vistara chief Vinod Kannan said the airline will look to review the current rostering system after discussions with pilots and emphasised that there has been no unusual spike in attrition. The Tata Group airline, which is in the process of getting merged with Air India, has temporarily reduced flight operations to ensure the availability of adequate pilot buffer and expects the situation to normalise by May. A stretched roster on account of the high utilisation of pilots is the key reason for the recent disruptions, according to the airline while there are also concerns among a section of pilots about the new contract that will also result in pay revision. In an interview with PTI on Friday, Kannan said that during a town hall with pilots, some concerns were raised around rostering, and pilots were told that the airline would look at how the rostering process can be reviewed. Out of the airline's total

Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan on Saturday said the airline hopes to stabilise operations for this month by this weekend and that more than 98 per cent of pilots have signed the new contract. The full service carrier faced significant disruption in operation earlier this week due to the non-availability of crew and many flights were cancelled. In a statement, Kannan said the situation has already improved with its on-time performance improving for the last three days. "We hope to stabilise our operations for the rest of April 2024 by this weekend," he said. Referring to the new contract for pilots, he said some pilots have some concerns and queries regarding the contract. The airline is engaging with them to clarify and resolve the concerns, Kannan said and added that "over 98 per cent of pilots have signed the new contract". Vistara has around 1,000 pilots. A section of pilots have raised concerns about the new contract that will result in pay revision, sources had said earlier. Acc

The cancellations and delays forced India's civil aviation ministry to intervene and monitor the situation, while the aviation regulator has sought daily information on flight disruptions

Vistara crisis: More than 100 Vistara flights were cancelled in the past two days due to pilots calling in sick, causing significant inconvenience to the passengers

Aviation watchdog DGCA has asked Vistara to submit a daily report on flight cancellations as well as delays, and is also monitoring the situation to ensure minimum inconvenience to passengers. The move comes against the backdrop of non-availability of pilots forcing Vistara to cancel a significant number of flights in recent days. In a statement on Tuesday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that in view of the various flight disruptions of Vistara, it has asked the airline to submit daily information and details on the flights that are being cancelled and delayed. The officials of the DGCA are also monitoring the situation to ensure compliance with requirements for providing facilities to passengers in case of flight cancellations and delays. This is to minimise the inconvenience to passengers. On Monday, the airline cancelled around 50 flights due to non-availability of crew and many flights were delayed. Vistara, which is in the process of getting merged wit

Indian full-service air carrier Vistara said on Monday it was confident of receiving its last 787 wide-body jet from Boeing by March or April

Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan on Monday said the airline will submit its response to the Competition Commission's queries on the proposed merger with Air India by the end of this month and expressed confidence of receiving all regulatory approvals by early next year. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has sought more details on the merger of Vistara with Air India, a deal that was announced in November last year. "There are certain questions that have been asked. We are going to give our response to the CCI by the end of this month. Then, the CCI will decide whether it needs to go to phase two or needs further clarification," Kannan said here. As per CCI norms, in case there are anti-competitive concerns, it can go for a detailed scrutiny which is generally called phase two of the approval process. Kannan said Vistara is expecting to have all regulatory approvals in place by early next fiscal. "The merger with Air India is on track". The airline has applied for approval for the

Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture made its first net profit in December-end quarter

In a mail to the employees of Vistara following the announcement of the merger with Air India, Kannan said that it will be 'business as usual' for the airlines

Says Vistara was competing with even more airlines when it was formed, has established itself clearly as the leading full-service carrier in India

The airline, which currently has 50 planes, aims to have 70 planes by the end of 2023 after taking into account some aircraft that will be returned to lessors

At present, there are 39 aircraft in Vistara's fleet comprising 19 A320neo aircraft, 13 A320ceo aircraft and seven Boeing B737-800NG aircraft.

The airline has already ordered six A321neos and six B787-9 Dreamliner aircraft and they would be used for international operations

Thng has taken over as the airlines new CEO post all requisite approvals from the Government of India

Leslie is set to take charge of the new position next week, an airline official said