Singapore: Early this summer, Jet Airways went off the radar, making four-year-old Vistara the only private, full-service carrier in India. The Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture airline then had to re-write its growth story to suit the new plot. As a result, when Vistara finally debuted its international operations on Tuesday, the inaugural flight to Singapore lifted off from Delhi at 11.40 pm with several elements of the Indian aviation story on board.
For one, the route will be operated with Boeing 737 aircraft that used to fly for Jet Airways (Vistara has leased these aircraft temporarily from the company that leased them to Jet). It will be operated largely by former Jet Airways pilots who have now moved to Vistara — the very pilots who used to fly to Singapore for Jet Airways. And last, it is operated on slots that were earlier allocated to Jet Airways at Mumbai and Delhi airports.
