Vistara flies high on trade ties

Vistara airlines, which started flights to Paris six months back and also flies to London and Frankfurt, has tied up with Air France. The partnership or interline with Air France is meant for both airlines to help each other, says Sumeet Gosain, Head of Sales, India, Vistara.

Nisha Verma

Sumeet Gosain, Head of Sales, India, Vistara, shares that the Paris flight started six months back. Vistara also flies to London and Frankfurt. Gosain informs, “We have also tied up with Air France and all the interline fares are already in the system for agents to sell tickets from any of the onward points. Currently, we have twice weekly flights to Paris and we fly our 787-900 series aircraft, with three cabins. Business class has flatbeds and even premium economy has very plush and comfortable seats with a dedicated cabin. Hence, it’s a much more dedicated service even in premium economy.”

He added that the partnership or interline with Air France is meant for both airlines to help each other. “We have a strength and brand presence within India, but in Europe we are still new. Hence we bank upon each other’s strengths. The fares are aligned such that customers can choose between both the carriers,” he explains.

OTOAI collab

Gosain believes that OTOAI has been a great partner. “I would like to sincerely thank each one of the participants from OTOAI for making it great. There was a huge level of involvement from all the members. I look forward for a greater support from everyone. The biggest highlight for me were the partners. Each one of them was phenomenal.”

New sectors

Talking about new routes on the anvil, Gosain reveals that they have a very firm and strong growth trajectory for 15 months. “We are getting almost 20 aircrafts, which means more than one aircraft per month, and these will be deployed in a combination of domestic and international flights. We are planning to start the flight to US very soon. All the approvals are in place and we were just waiting for the aircraft, and very soon direct flight between India and the US will commence,” he shares.

Working with trade

Gosain believes that trade partners are their strongest supporters. “I think their success is most important and a key feature in our growth story. I’ve always made our proposals, our plans and offers keeping them at the forefront and that’s going to continue. I believe in the partnership and the kind of support I get from all the agencies and I continue to support them in the best possible way from our perspective, in terms of tweaking dates, making deals which are mutually beneficial. We will continue to do that,” he claims.

“In the last one quarter, as travel is coming back with a vengeance, we have seen that the partners have really contributed towards our success. It’s very clear that the support that we get from our partners and corporates has resulted in our market share getting much higher than the capacity share we have in the marketplace. This shows that both trade partners are pushing us as well as corporates and travellers are preferring us over our competitors. It’s a very healthy sign and I hope that continues,” he adds.

Traders programme

In light of increased travel for trade fairs across the world, Gosain says, “We saw an opportunity, especially when we started these flights, whether it was to Frankfurt or to Paris, that a lot of trader movement was happening to these destinations.

“There are a lot of fairs, for fashion, garment industry and various other industries, for which people travel to and from both these points. There was a lot of demand and I thought there was this vacuum where people had not customised offers for traders because they generally move with a lot of cargo. They have huge baggage on board as well. Hence, we’ve made this program, keeping them in mind, where we’d give them certain extra benefits in terms of baggage as well as flexibilities to take care of their specific needs. We’ve brought down fares for them from a commercial perspective. Hence, it’s a win-win situation. We get their patronage and they get the service product at a much reasonable cost,” he informs.