Vistara today launched a flight connecting this city with Delhi and Hyderabad.
Vistara, a joint venture of Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, flew its inaugural flight to Chandigarh from Delhi. On its return leg, it will fly to Hyderabad via Delhi.
The new service will also offers connection via Delhi between Chandigarh and Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, Bhubaneswar and Ahmedabad, Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Strategy and Commercial Officer, Vistara told reporters here.
The introductory fare between Chandigarh and Delhi has been kept at Rs 1,990.
"Chandigarh is a key market in north India, a base for significant business and tourism in the region. Our focus will be on corporate and leisure travellers," Kapoor said, adding the company would also introduce premium economy class on this route, apart from business and economy class.
International travellers from the city will also be connected to global destinations via Vistara's hub at Delhi, making it a convenient for them to travel overseas, he said.
With introduction of the new route, Vistara now covers six destinations in north India including Jammu, Srinagar, Delhi, Lucknow and Varanasi, and 12 others across India.
"We will soon add Kolkata as our new destination," he said.
On purchase of new aircraft, Kapoor said by 2018, the airline will have 20 Airbus A320 planes in its fleet.
"Currently, we have nine aircraft and by October this year, we will add four more. By 2018, we shall have a fleet of 20 aircraft," he said.
Vistara is currently operating 417 flights per week to 16 destinations, he said, adding that with the addition of more aircraft, it will be operating 580 flights per week.
Kapoor termed the 5/20 rule for flying internationally as an "artificial" restriction on domestic airlines, saying it should be removed.
Under 5/20 rules, an airline should have five years of domestic flying experience and fleet of 20 aircraft for flying international.
"This rule is hurting the country as 70 per cent of the traffic from India is being carried by foreign airlines.
"It (5/20 rule) is hurting us. Aviation is a scale industry, the more scale you have, the better you can operate and if you are limited to domestic sector, then your 'scale' will be limited to domestic. To succeed, you need to have no artificial restrictions. You fly wherever you think you can," he said.
"We cannot fly internationally until 5/20 goes," he said.
