Vistara's aircraft, having better interiors, will replace Air India's planes on major metro-to-metro routes between Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru after merger of both the carriers next month, sources privy to the development said on Thursday. "Air India aircraft are being refurbished one by one. Until that process is complete, it makes sense to deploy Vistara planes on our high-revenue metro-to-metro routes between Delhi, Mumbai and Benglauru," a source said.
Earlier in the day, an IndiGo A320 passenger aircraft landed successfully at 1.32 pm at runway 08/26 of the under-construction Navi Mumbai International Airport, paving the way for the Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd (NMIAL) to seek an aerodrome licence from the aviation safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to start commercial flight services.
A320neo, the narrow-body, fuel-efficient aircraft from the Airbus stable, is making its debut at the Hyderabad air show.
The airline would be accepting the bids till November 19.
The trails of mega-mergers, tailwinds of expanding fleets, flights and airports will dot the fast-growing Indian aviation firmament in 2025, though the dark clouds of supply chain woes will persist longer. Also, new airline takeoffs, the future trajectory of revised norms to tackle pilot fatigue and efforts to reduce carbon emissions will be on the radar.
IndiGo has previously placed orders for 100 A320s and 180 A320neo planes.
Saturday's mid-air engine failure on Indigo flight prompts scrutiny.
The airliners will be withdrawn from Air India, sent to France to fit airborne radars, then handed over to DRDO to be integrated with the complex software that will allow these aircraft to function as 'eye-in-the-sky' controllers of air force battles.
These single-aisle planes, made by European consortium Airbus Industrie, can seat between 160 and 180. They are considered ideal for domestic and short-haul international operations.
Domestic air passengers traffic logged a 20.1 per cent growth in the January-September period.
The fresh bout of trouble has forced IndiGo to ground aircraft periodically since July, and on August 20, the number of grounded aircraft touched nine
The national carrier has sought dry-leasing these planes for six years instead of buying them, as part of its Turnaround and Financial Restructuring Plans, airline sources said.
The low-cost carrier of West Asia and North Africa has signed a contract with Airbus for 34 A320 with an option for 15 more, Air Arabia said in a statement. The deal would more than triple the size of Air Arabia's fleet and underlines its stated ambition to increase its total operating fleet to over 50 aircraft by 2015.
Airline officials said the operational launch may be held in the later part of October.
Airbus claims the new aircraft is 15 per cent more fuel efficient than the exiting versions of A320
Grounded Indian planes will be up in air by end of April says company president
The geared turbofan, a step-change in the efficiency of turbines for commercial aircraft, has been hit by a slew of design flaws that have grounded planes, delayed deliveries and prompted millions of dollars in compensation claims.
DGCA has also permitted the airline to deploy newly-inducted planes for capacity expansion.
Aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked Vistara to submit a daily report on flight cancellations and delays as the Tata group airline cancelled more than 50 flights for the second straight day on Tuesday amid non-availability of pilots.
'Airlines are aware that during peak times like Diwali, demand will be high, so prices remain steep even for tickets purchased 90 days ahead.'
The national airline had incurred a net loss of Rs 5,859.91 crore (Rs 58.59 billion) last fiscal.
Airline mum on offer plans, sources say it will be looking to raise around Rs 1,000-1,200 crore
Inching closer to launch its operations, new no-frill carrier AirAsia India on Saturday took delivery of its first Airbus A-320 as it landed in Chennai after flying in from Toulouse headquarters of the European aircraft manufacturer.
The new airline has begun recruiting pilots and is close to confirming its top executives, including a Singapore Airlines executive as its chief executive officer.
Aviation watchdog DGCA has deregistered all the 54 planes leased by Go First, days after a court allowed lessors to take back their aircraft from the bankrupt airline. Bogged down by financial turbulence and engine woes, budget carrier Go First stopped flying in May last year and is undergoing an insolvency resolution process. Foreign lessors that have leased planes to the airline had moved the court to take back the aircraft.
Airbus's assembly plant in north China's Tianjin plans to roll out 48 A320 aircraft in 2012, nearly doubling its current production capacity.
According to reports, a Germanwings Airbus A320 has crashed in French Alps near the Digne region in France.
Full-service airline Tata-SIA, submitted its application for the grant of Air Operator's Permit (AOP or flying license) in April.
Air India significantly altered the composition of the aircraft order it placed earlier this year with Airbus, the European plane manufacturer has said. In February, Air India had placed the world's second-largest single-tranche aircraft order for 470 planes: 250 with Airbus and 220 with Boeing. In July, Airbus disclosed an order comprising 70 A321neo, 140 A320neo, 34 A350-1000, and six A350-900 aircraft for Air India.
Interestingly, the full service carrier's launch coincides with the concluding day of the the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrations scheduled to be held in Gujarat's capital city Gandhinagar, near Ahmedabad, from January 7 to January 9.
Facing disruptions due to non-availability of crew, Vistara on Sunday announced reducing 10 per cent of its capacity or 25-30 flights daily and most of the cancellations are in the domestic network as the Tata Group airline strives to stabilise operations. The full-service carrier is to operate over 300 flights daily in the ongoing summer schedule and witnessed significant disruptions earlier this week as many pilots reported sick, resulting in cancellations of flights. "We are carefully scaling back our operations by around 25-30 flights per day, i.e. roughly 10 per cent of the capacity we were operating.
In little over a year, Air India and IndiGo have announced plans to purchase up to 170 wide-body planes as they bet on ambitious expansion and efforts also continue to make India a global aviation hub. Also, the two carriers' orders usher in European aircraft maker Airbus into the country's wide-body space, which has traditionally been dominated by US major Boeing. If narrow-body aircraft orders of Air India, IndiGo and Akasa Air are added to the list, the order book is well over 1,200 planes and that too in less than 14 months or since February 2023.
French air investigators are examining one of the black boxes of the doomed Germanwings plane to find out why the aircraft crashed into a mountain in the French Alps, killing the 150 people on board.
GoAir has signed an agreement with Airbus Industrie toacquire 10 A-320 aircraft with an option of purchasing 10 more, intending to expand its route network in the next few months.
This isn't the first instance of Vistara facing scrutiny from the regulator over improper pilot training.
The DGCA has derostered the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) who was on duty at the time of the incident on Saturday, while IndiGo has initiated a probe into the matter
No-frills airline IndiGo on Monday announced placing a firm order for 500 A320 family planes with European aviation major Airbus at the Paris Air Show. This is the largest ever aircraft order placed by any airline with Airbus, IndiGo said in a statement. Financial details of the order were not disclosed.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances