India’s Vistara eyes London-Newark flights

Having secured its US Foreign Air Carrier Permit (FACP) in late August, India’s Vistara (UK, Delhi Int’l) has now disclosed that it holds slots for services from Delhi Int’l via London Gatwick to New York Newark for the current winter season.

According to Airport Coordination Limited (ACL), the Indian full-service carrier has slots to operate a total of 63 flights from Gatwick to Delhi (translating to 3x weekly flights) and the same number from Gatwick to Newark during the season ending in late March 2022, with up to 299 passenger seats per departure.

The airline has yet to announce plans to serve the United States, although it said earlier that it hoped to debut the route during the current quarter.

Vistara, a 51/49 joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines Group, operates just two B787-9s with 299 seats each, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows. The two aircraft do not have separate crew rest areas and are currently used for services to Bangalore Int’l, Frankfurt Int’l, London Heathrow, and Paris CDG (launching on November 7, 2021). If the airline operates flights via London, it will be able to change crews in the United Kingdom and thus avoid the issue of a lack of crew-rests.

Newark is a hub for United Airlines (UA, Chicago O’Hare), which has a one-way code-share partnership with Vistara, covering the latter’s domestic services out of Delhi and Mumbai Int’l.

United Airlines is the second-largest player in the US-India direct air market with a 44% market share by scheduled departure capacity, the ch-aviation capacities module shows. The airline flies from Newark to both Delhi and Mumbai. Air India (AI, Mumbai Int’l) has a 52.2% share, while American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) is a minor competitor with a 3.8% share.

Currently, there are no flights from Gatwick to Newark. United and British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) fly to the New Jersey gateway from London Heathrow. Gatwick’s services to New York JFK are operated by British Airways and JetBlue Airways (B6, New York JFK), the ch-aviation schedules module highlights.