India’s Vistara to launch inc’l ops in mid-3Q20

Vistara (UK, Delhi Int’l) has announced that it will launch its maiden intercontinental route, between Delhi Int’l and London Heathrow, on August 28, 2020, initially operating 3x weekly. The full-service carrier, a 51/49 joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines Group, has so far scheduled the route through September 30, 2020. The flights to the UK will mark the maiden deployment of Vistara’s B787-9s on long-haul routes. The carrier took delivery of its first widebody aircraft, VT-TSD (msn 66526), in late February this year, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to suspend all international operations. As such, VT-TSD has only been deployed on trunk domestic routes. Vistara’s second B787-9 was delivered in mid-August 2020. The launch of the route was made possible by an “travel bubble” agreement between India and the United Kingdom, permitting international travel between the two countries for selected groups of passengers, mostly Indian citizens and residents. Leisure travel to India is still banned. Vistara has confirmed it is planning to launch services to Paris CDG and Frankfurt Int’l in the near future. India also has “travel bubble” agreements with both France and Germany.