Vistara margins improve on traffic, better seating

In the next six months we will reach the landmark of carrying two million passengers: Phee Teik Yeoh

Vistara has improved its margins on growth in traffic and a revision of the seating arrangement in its aircraft.

At its launch in January 2015, Vistara used to carry 700 passengers a day, which had jumped to nearly 8,000 passengers a day now, said Phee Teik Yeoh, the airline's chief executive officer. "In the next six months we will reach the landmark of carrying two million passengers," he added.

The airline, which will begin operations from Kolkata on June 10, has also revised its aircraft seating arrangement.

Since March, Vistara has reduced its business and premium economy class capacity on its Airbus A320 aircraft to add 30 more seats in economy class. Overall, seats increased from 148 to 158.

Yeoh said demand for business class was not to initial projections and that led to the reconfiguration. "Our margins have improved now," he said and added more aircraft would be added to the fleet. With 13 aircraft and flying to two new cities, the airline expects to increase its weekly flight count to 580 by October from 457 now.

The airline is also modifying its baggage allowance for international passengers. "If a passenger can show us an international ticket, we will increase the baggage allowance by 1.5-2 times even if the person is boarding a carrier we do not have a partnership with," Yeoh said.