Vistara’s newest aircraft flew in on February 28th.
Vistara celebrated another milestone recently by welcoming its 50th aircraft from the Airbus A320 family. The airline’s operations rely heavily on Airbus narrowbodies, which have steadily joined the airline over the years. While Vistara will not order any new aircraft, it will still accept airframes from its existing order, of which the latest plane is a part.
50th Airbus A320 family aircraft
Vistara inducted its 50th Airbus A320 family aircraft last month. The Airbus A321neo (registered VT-TVF) flew into Delhi from Hamburg on February 28th after flying for more than eight hours.
Vistara’s fleet of A320 family planes serves its extensive network spread all across the country and also for medium-haul international flights to the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
The airline also recently acquired India’s first Airbus A321LR, which can fly as far as 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 kilometers) and can accommodate 206 passengers by utilizing extra fuel in three Additional Centre Tanks. The airline has announced Mauritius as the first confirmed destination for the long-range A321.
Fleet
The latest aircraft has taken Vistara’s fleet to a total of 55 aircraft. Over the last few years, Vistara has phased out all of its older-generation A320s, making way for the latest-generation neo family of aircraft. A breakup of its fleet structure, per ch-aviation, looks like the following:
Airbus A320neo – 43
Airbus A321neo – 6
Airbus A321LR – 1
Boeing 737-800 – 2
Boeing 787-9 – 3
Photo: Airbus
Vistara kick-started its major expansion plans in 2018 by ordering 50 Airbus A320neo family aircraft and 6 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. Until then, it was already operating 21 Airbus narrowbodies for its domestic operations. The 50 aircraft deal included a letter of Intent (LoI) for 13 A320neos and an additional 37 A320neo family aircraft from lessors.
In 2019, it picked up nine Boeing 737-800s, which previously flew for Jet Airways to provide the capacity it needed while it was awaiting its new planes. Only two of these remain in its fleet, and those are also on their way out.
No more new orders
In January, Vistara announced that it would not be ordering any new aircraft ahead of its proposed merger with Air India. The airline did clarify that it will continue to honor its existing aircraft orders, the bulk of which will be put towards further international expansion.
The airline still has close to 10 Airbus A320s to be delivered and four more Boeing 787-9 airplanes, the deliveries of which should be completed by the end of 2024. By then, however, Vistara’s brand will most likely cease to exist following its merger with Air India, and all the new aircraft will contribute to the merged entity’s business operations.
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