Vistara – the TATA SIA Joint venture is starting 5x Daily flights between Mumbai and Bengaluru. The flights are effective 16th April and are on sale right now. The airline will also launch daily flights to Kolkata and Hyderabad from Mumbai.
The new flights will operate till 15 July 2019. In all likely hood the flights will continue beyond July, as the airline including others will get the slots permanently. These slots are temporary and will cater to the peak period of April – June in absence of Jet Airways frequency and capacity.
The capacity addition comes as India gears up for its peakest month of May, with a significant chunk of capacity (about 18%) being withdrawn from the Market on account of Jet Airways being in “Holding pattern” and awaiting funding.
Vistara which has a fleet of 22 A320 aircraft including the A320ceo and A320neo will not add any more planes to the fleet immediately. These additions are with the existing fleet which sees some re-jig.
The re-jig means that the airline has pulled out its flights from Chennai – Kolkata and Bengaluru – Ahmedabad sector to cater to this additional flights from Mumbai. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport at Mumbai is the most congested airport in the country with slots hard to come by. With Mumbai being the commercial capital of the country, the yields “fare” better than Tier II cities for a relatively premium heavy configuration of Vistara.
The airline has almost replicated the Jet Airways schedule on Mumbai – Bengaluru sector.
UK851 BOM 0535 – 0720 BLR
UK863 BOM0905 – 1055BLR
UK853 BOM1540 – 1720BLR
UK865 BOM1810 – 1955BLR
UK857 BOM2055 – 2235BLR
UK858 BLR0640 – 0815BOM
UK852 BLR0855 – 1035BOM
UK864 BLR1135 – 1320BOM
UK854 BLR1825 – 2010BOM
UK866 BLR2035 – 2225BOM
The airlines Kolkata – Mumbai flight is a replacement of one of its Kolkata Delhi flights
UK772 CCU1040 – 1325BOM
UK771 BOM1405 – 1615CCU
The airline will also operate once a day flight to Hyderabad.
UK875 BOM1405 – 1525HYD
UK876 HYD1605 – 1730BOM
Vistara is also adding a six weekly frequency from Hyderabad to Pune. As the situation changes, more changes are likely and airlines will scramble to get the available slots. Vistara will be short of capacity to grab the slots and has limited space to maneuver, with its metro focus and ability to fulfill Route Dispersal Guidelines (RDG). While IndiGo – which is still in the middle of pilot shortage could pull out flights from Tier II and Tier III cities to grab slots at Mumbai and Delhi.
NetworkThoughts 