Green light: Painful wait for Vistara to fly abroad is now over

The Tata-SIA joint venture is entering the international market at an opportune time but could run into the headwinds of bilateral air service agreements

For Vistara, the painful wait for over a year to fly abroad is over. And the green signal a fortnight ago, after months of dithering, could not have come at a more opportune time. 

Two major domestic airlines are in a mess — Jet Airways and Air India — and are being readied for sale this year (Air India for the second time). Both are full-service carriers like Vistara. 

On Monday, bankers ousted Jet promoter Naresh Goyal, took over the management of Jet Airways, and committed to put in money to nurse it back to health. The airline, which has over two-thirds