‘We expect to fly overseas within a year... It can be any destination’
Vistara, the Tata-Singapore Airlines (SIA)-backed fullservice carrier, will place an order for jets as it readies a long-term plan for starting international operations, CEO Phee Teik Yeoh told HT in an interview. Excerpts:
When will Vistara start international operations?
We are in the process of finalising our long-term plan. We expect to go to the board within the next two months. The idea is to present the plan to them and based on the plan we will know how many aircraft we will need, how soon and how to get them. We will like to go overseas only when we are ready.
By when will you be ready?
That is a function of when the aircraft we need to operate are made available. But ultimately it’s about how soon we can get our product and service definition ready. When we go overseas it is going to be very different from what we are offering today, so product and service definition will take time. I don’t see how all this can be done in the next 9-12 months. Easily, it’s a minimum one-year affair.
Will Vistara place a large order like some other Indian carriers have done?
We will be placing an order. The order will be according to what the plan is endorsed by the board. It’s fine if it’s small or big. We don’t want to take more than what we can digest. It has to be a size that we are comfortable, which we are capable of growing in a measured pace.
Will you start with a longhaul
The world’s our oyster. The permutations are endless... (But) advancing orders just to go overseas is not good enough. We should not lose sight of the fact that we have domestic operations to run.
or a shorthaul route?
It can be both. I can start with one short haul and one long haul. Then I order 50-50 — 50 narrow-body and 50 wide-body. It depends on the priorities and the traffic flow demand. You had said that airlines which have rights to operate overseas do not have serious ambitions to connect India to the world, especially countries that are at least six hours away from India. So, will Vistara start with a longhaul destination? I did mention that by and large India is still is not that well connected to the world as it should be. It is true the incumbents are not as eager to operate long-haul other than Air India. But there’s also a lot of demand on short-haul routes as well, so it would be foolish for us to ignore their true potential.
What are the destinations you are looking at?
The world’s our oyster. The permutations are endless.
Will you be looking at advancing the delivery of planes?
Advancing the delivery date of planes is something that we do not rule out, but we must have a business case. Advancing just to go overseas is not good enough. We should not lose sight of the fact that we have domestic operations to run.
Will Vistara go public?
The focus is making our domestic operations work well. We are not looking to tap other sources of funds. We are not looking at an IPO at this point of time.