India’s Vistara received its first Airbus A321LR
Vistara received its first Airbus A321LR, becoming the first Indian airline to operate the type in the country.
Airbus delivered the aircraft on February 4, 2023. The A321-200NX(LR), registered VT-TVG (msn 11138), flew directly from the manufacturer’s Final Assembly Line (FAL) at Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport (XFW) to Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL), arriving at the latter at 8:19 PM local time (UTC +5:30).
“We are excited to welcome our first A321LR to our growing fleet. This addition reiterates our stronger focus on international expansion, and enables us to offer longer range connectivity to our customers while also maintaining greater fuel efficiency,” said Vinod Kannan, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vistara.
The airline will configure its aircraft in a 188-seat cabin, with 12 lie-flat Business Class, 24 Premium Economy, and 152 Economy Class seats.
“All seats are equipped with 4-way adjustable headrests, in-seat power/USB charging ports, state-of-the-art In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) system featuring a multimedia library with up to 700 hours of content, and onboard Wi-Fi to accentuate the overall in-flight experience for the passengers,” the airline said in its announcement on February 6, 2023.
The Airbus A321LR was part of a 50-aircraft order placed in July 2018. Then, Vistara signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with the manufacturer for 13 A320neo family aircraft, signing additional agreements with lessors for an additional 37 A320neo family jets.
It received its first neo aircraft in May 2017, an Airbus A320neo, registered VT-TNB, and leased from BOC Aviation, according to planespotters.net data.
In November 2022, Air India and Singapore Airlines announced that Vistara would be merged with Air India.
Singapore Airlines and Tata Sons, who acquired the ailing Indian flag carrier more than a year ago, entered into an agreement to fold Vistara into the Air India group, with the two sides hoping to complete the merger by October 2024.
Air India has two subsidiaries, namely Air India Express, a low-cost carrier, and Air India Regional, a turboprop airline that flies regional routes for the full-service airline.