NEW DELHI: India’s newest airline announced Monday it would start flying next month and was “enthusiastic” about the future, even as rival carriers bleed red ink.
The new airline, called Vistara — a Sanskrit word meaning “limitless expanse” — will make its first flight on January 9.
The airline is 49-percent-owned by Singapore Airlines, one of the world’s top-rated carriers. Mumbai-based Tata conglomerate, one of India’s best-respected brands, controls 51 percent.
“We’re enthusiastic. There are no doubt challenges, but we believe in the immense potential of the Indian aviation market,” Vistara chief executive Phee Teik Yeoh told reporters.
The 46-year-old former senior executive of Singapore Airlines, added he had felt like “breaking into song” ever since Vistara cleared the final hurdle to start flying, obtaining its Air Operators Permit from the government earlier this month in India’s highly regulated market.
While airline analysts say India’s aviation future belongs to low-cost carriers, Yeoh said there was also room for full-service airlines.
“We’re here to redefine the flying experience” and “create a demand for a kind of personalized travel” that doesn’t exist, he said, referring to the “massification” of the Indian travel market.
Vistara will operate the 148-seater Airbus A320-200 with 16 seats in business class, 36 in premium economy and 96 in economy.
Once it takes off, Vistara will be the third full-service carrier after state-run Air India and Jet Airways, which are both making chronic losses.
The new carrier will start with Delhi-Mumbai flights and then include the western city of Ahmedabad. It will add routes as its current two-plane Airbus fleet grows.
The carrier expects to have five planes in a month and 20 Airbus planes within four years.
The launch comes after the debt-laden no-frills airline SpiceJet was grounded briefly last week for failing to pay fuel bills.
India’s air passenger market has expanded at breakneck speed but many airlines are laden with debt and beset by cut-throat fare wars, high fuel taxes and shoddy infrastructure.
IndiGo, India’s largest passenger carrier, is a budget operation and the sole one among the country’s four biggest airlines consistently to report profits.
Kingfisher, a full-service airline owned by liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya, was grounded by huge losses in 2012.
Tata also holds a stake in an Indian low-cost carrier which started flying in June, operated by Asia’s biggest-budget airline AirAsia.
The previous Congress government began allowing foreign airlines to buy up to 49 percent stakes in Indian carriers in 2012.
New India airline to start flying as others lose money
New India airline to start flying as others lose money
BYD Americas CEO hails Middle East as ‘homeland for innovation’
- In an interview on the sidelines of Davos, Stella Li highlighted the region’s openness to new technologies and opportunities for growth
DAVOS: BYD Americas CEO Stella Li described the Middle East as a “homeland for innovation” during an interview with Arab News on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.
The executive of the Chinese electric vehicle giant highlighted the region’s openness to new technologies and opportunities for growth.
“The people (are) very open. And then from the government, from everybody there, they are open to enjoy the technology,” she said.
BYD has accelerated its expansion of battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids across the Middle East and North Africa region, with a strong focus on Gulf Cooperation Council countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
GCC EV markets, led by the UAE and Saudi Arabia, rank among the world’s fastest-growing. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has been aggressively investing in the EV sector, backing Lucid Motors, launching its brand Ceer, and supporting charging infrastructure development.
However, EVs still account for just over 1 percent of total car sales, as high costs, limited charging infrastructure, and extreme weather remain challenges.
In summer 2025, BYD announced it was aiming to triple its Saudi footprint following Tesla’s entry, targeting 5,000 EV sales and 10 showrooms by late 2026.
“We commit a lot of investment there (in the region),” Li noted, adding that the company is building a robust dealer network and introducing cutting-edge technology.
Discussing growth plans, she envisioned Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East as a potential “dreamland” for innovation — what she described as a regional “Silicon Valley.”
Talking about the EV ambitions of the Saudi government, she said: “If they set up (a) target, they will make (it) happen. Then they need a technology company like us to support their … 2030 Vision.”
