Indian carrier Vistara eyes new destinations post Colombo attacks

Tuesday, 21 May 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

ET, Mumbai: Vistara has stalled plans to fly to Colombo, after the spate of bombings that recently ravaged the Sri Lankan commercial capital, and is instead looking at South Asian destinations for its maiden international flight.

“Colombo flights were to start this month. But the airline had to delay it in view of the attacks. It is now working on a plan B,” said a person close to the development.

He did not disclose which specific destinations in the region are being looked at in place of the Lankan city.

Earlier this year, Vistara received government approval to start overseas flights. A five-member committee had been looking at its proposal, a unique move as Vistara is part-owned by Tata Sons, whose other airline venture AirAsia India, was being probed for alleged irregular lobbying for international flying rights.

India has an open skies— or unlimited flying rights —agreement with Sri Lanka, which made it easy for Vistara to chart plans as soon as it got the approval. However, on 21 April, Easter Sunday, three churches and three luxury hotels in Colombo were targeted in a series of suicide bombings by terrorists. There were also smaller explosions in a housing complex and a guest house. More than 250 people were killed.

Vistara, a joint venture between Tata and Singapore Airlines, had in a proposal to the aviation ministry last year, said it planned to connect Sri Lanka and Maldives to Delhi and Thailand to Delhi and Kolkata. It also had referred to plans to connect destinations in Bangladesh, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to Delhi and Singapore to Pune.

Vistara, like all other airlines, has also applied for flying rights that have been withdrawn from grounded carrier Jet Airways. The destinations are Dubai, Hong Kong, Qatar, Singapore and UK. Officials at the ministry of civil aviation last week took stock of various requests from airlines that have applied for Jet’s unused overseas flight slots. Cash-strapped Jet stopped flying since 17 April.