Full service carrier Vistara will hike salaries of its pilots and cabin crew by up to 8 per cent from April amid deployment of higher capacities to meet rising travel demand, according to a source. The source also claimed that some 30 pilots have quit the airline in the last six months and are serving notice period after getting job offers mainly from the Gulf carriers. On Thursday, a senior Vistara official confirmed the salary hike for the pilots and cabin crew but denied that 30 pilots have left the airline.
When the crew members tried to stop the woman from misbehaving, she allegedly punched one of them in the face and spat on another staffer, the official said.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) is engaged in confidential talks with Tata Sons for merging Vistara with Air India, the flagship carrier of the Republic of Singapore informed the stock exchange in the Southeast Asian nation on Thursday in a first acknowledgement of a possible integration of the two airlines. "In line with its multi-hub strategy, SIA is currently in confidential discussions with the Tatas to explore a potential transaction in relation to the securities of Vistara and Air India. "The discussions seek to deepen the existing partnership between SIA and Tatas and may include a potential integration of Vistara and Air India," SIA said in a notification to the Singapore stock exchange. SIA owns 49 per cent stake in Vistara and is among the four airlines run by Tata Group.
'I am seven months into the job, but it feels like seven years.'
'We don't give any guidance about profitability. We have internal targets but we don't discuss them publicly.'
Full service carrier Vistara will continue to expand and expects to have a total of 70 planes by mid-2024, its chief Vinod Kannan said on Tuesday. The airline, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, reported an operating profit for the first time since inception in the three months ended December 2022. By the middle of next year, Kannan said it will have a total of 70 aircraft, including 7 Boeing 787s.
In the past few days, more than 40 flights operated by the Indian carriers have received bomb threats which later turned out to be hoaxes.
A senior DGCA official said that the flight has been grounded and a detailed probe has been ordered into the matter. All the passengers are safe.
"Heartbroken by the loss of Shri @RNTata2000 Ji, whose visionary leadership not only transformed India's industry but also played a pivotal role in shaping our aviation sector," Naidu said in a post on X.
More than 30 flights of various Indian airlines, including Vistara, Air India and IndiGo, received bomb threats on Saturday, according to sources.
So far this week, more than 90 flights have received bomb threats and most of them have turned out to be hoaxes.
The Mumbai police have registered a case against an unidentified person after three airlines received bomb threats on their X handle, an official said on Tuesday.
IndiGo carried 69.09 million passengers last year, compared to 67.9 million in 2019.
The Tatas have collectively increased their aggregate airlines seat capacity across domestic and international markets by an impressive 20 per cent, going from 64.03 million in calendar year (CY) 2023 to 76.72 million in the current CY, according to data shared by the group that controls Air India in which Vistara has been merged recently. The Tatas also run Air India Express in which Air Asia India has been merged.
Tata Group-owned Air India shaved off its losses by 60 per cent to Rs 4,444.10 crore in FY24 over the previous year, according to the Tata Sons annual report for 2023-24. The airline had reported a loss of Rs 11,387.96 crore in FY23, the annual report said.
Air India has covered a lot of ground since privatisation and its global coverage will further increase in the years ahead, the airline's chief Campbell Wilson said on Wednesday. He also said the interior refit of the single-aisle fleet, serving domestic and short-haul international destinations, is underway, and will be completed by mid-2025.
Taking hoax bomb-threat messages and calls seriously, the government has started identifying those behind the menace and asked social media platforms like Meta and X to share data on such messages, sources said.
Nearly 80 domestic and international flights received bomb threats in less than 24 hours that later turned out to be hoaxes, keeping thousands of passengers and security agencies on tenterhooks.
Some of the proposed policies have been welcomed by pilots and cabin crew, while others have sparked criticism.
More than 80 domestic and international flights of various Indian airlines received bomb threats on Thursday, according to sources.
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.
Apart from Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, the codeshare agreement with Lufthansa will cover Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi and Pune.
Market estimates suggest the airline has already totted up Rs 1,800 crore of losses in FY20, and FY21 is expected to see losses in the region of Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 3,000 crore Many in the sector say that Vistara lacks the light-footedness of the airlines with which it competes, reports Anjuli Bhargava.
The sources in the know said around 7 flights each of IndiGo, Vistara and SpiceJet got the threats while 6 flights of Air India received the threats.
As SpiceJet faces heat from the aviation regulator DGCA for multiple flight incidents in the last few weeks, malfunction cases involving planes of IndiGo and Vistara came to light on Wednesday.
As many as 19 flights have received bomb threats in three days and a Riyadh-bound IndiGo flight was diverted to Muscat due to the threat, according to officials.
In a December 2012 interview, Ratan Tata, then preparing to step down as chairman of Tata Sons, expressed doubts about the Tata group re-entering the aviation sector, calling it a space plagued by "destructive competition". But beneath that frustration lay nearly two decades of failed attempts to conquer the Indian skies. In 1994, Tata, along with Singapore Airlines, had plans to launch a joint venture (JV) airline in India.
Vistara on Thursday said it is resuming hot vegetarian meals for its domestic economy class passengers replacing the pre-packaged snacks that were being served since May last year due to the COVID-related guidelines. The airline also announced new sets of in-flight meals for all classes - economy, premium economy, and business - on its domestic network. Aviation regulator DGCA had permitted airlines in August last year to serve or sell pre-packed snacks, beverages, and meals on all domestic flights.
Vistara appoints Vinod Kannan as chief strategy officer; plans to launch its maiden international flight to Colombo in May
In 14 days, more than 350 flights operated by the Indian carriers have received hoax bomb threats. Most of the threats were issued through social media.
The pilot, who was the first officer on the flight, landed the aircraft at the Indore airport recently without first getting the requisite training in a simulator, they said.
By 2023, Vistara's hangars will house a total of 70 aircraft, up from the current 42.
Air India will be commencing its scheduled operations -- two daily flights from the national capital -- to Dhaka on Wednesday.
The bulk of Indian carriers flying to Dubai are low-cost carriers, which include IndiGo, Air India Express, and SpiceJet.
Vistara has filed for slots at the Delhi airport and is also training pilots as it prepares for operations. The Delhi-London flight is being planned from mid-August, while services to Paris and Franfkurt would be launched later.
Vistara Chief Executive Officer Phee Teik Yeoh is expected to meet the senior management of BA over the next few days to discuss the partnership.
The international cargo operations of two major carriers - IndiGo and Air India Group (Air India and Vistara) - are experiencing opposite trajectories despite both the airlines significantly expanding their international flight offerings over the past year. During the fourth quarter of 2023-24, IndiGo's international non-passenger cargo business declined to 6,848 tonnes. This is an 18.2 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) decrease, according to data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)
The airline had tweeted a picture of retired major general G D Bakshi along with two Vistara crew members standing behind him inside an aircraft, saying that it was honoured to have him onboard.
It started commercial operations as a full service carrier on January 9.
Indian airline companies are likely to announce the suspension of flight operations to and from Tel Aviv, Israel, amid rising tensions between Iran and Israel.
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