Air India deploys Vistara A320s on five key routes: Rediff Moneynews

New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) Optimizing its network, Air India on Wednesday said it will deploy former Vistara’s A320 aircraft, which offer best-in-class narrowbody cabin products, on five key metro-to-metro routes including Delhi-Mumbai and Mumbai-Hyderabad.

The Tata Group airline, which has embarked on an ambitious transformation journey, will continue to operate one flight each with a widebody aircraft between Delhi and Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, Delhi and Hyderabad. A Boeing 777 or an Airbus A350 aircraft will be used for the services.

Full-service carrier Vistara, which was highly regarded for its services, merged with Air India earlier this month. Giving passengers a choice at the time of booking, flights operated on Vistara aircraft have their numbers starting with the prefix ‘AI2’.

In a press release, Air India said flights on five metro-to-metro routes will be operated using the former Vistara A320 series aircraft with a three-class configuration: business, premium economy and economy class.

The routes are Delhi and Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, Delhi and Hyderabad, Mumbai and Bengaluru, and Mumbai and Hyderabad.

The airline offers more than 1,000 weekly flights (return flights) on these key routes: 56x per day on Delhi-Mumbai, 36x per day on Delhi-Bengaluru, 24x per day on Delhi-Hyderabad, 22x per day on Mumbai-Bengaluru and 18x per day on Mumbai-Hyderabad”.

In terms of seats, the airline will offer 35,000 premium seats – premium economy and business – on these routes every week.

Currently, Air India has a fleet of 208 aircraft, including around 67 widebody aircraft.

The airline said flight schedules will be optimized so that departures are spread throughout the day, without reducing frequency.

“The merger of Vistara with Air India has opened up many new opportunities to enhance our customer offering. By combining the strengths of both full-service airlines, we are able to consolidate our best-in-class narrowbody offering on routes where there is a need for a high-frequency, full-service product.

“We will gradually expand coverage to more routes as Air India introduces new aircraft and completes the retrofit of our existing narrowbody fleet in 2025,” said Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson.