India airline Vistara eyes US flights
India full-service carrier Vistara is mulling nonstop flights linking the two countries with the highest number of Covid-19 cases.
Despite India and the US recording more than 20 million combined cases, the airline is bullish about the market.
"There is definitely an opportunity, to fly direct to the US and it is an opportunity we are looking at," Vinod Kannan, chief commercial officer, told Reuters.
The airline believes a trend for long haul nonstop flights to avoid stopovers is growing because of the pandemic.
It is working on securing long range aircraft.
"In today’s situation it is much easier to lease a wide-body compared to one year ago. Those opportunities and scenarios are being worked on," Kannan said.
The airline started flying overseas last year and currently operates services to the Middle East and London under travel bubble arrangements.
Vistara is a joint venture between Indian conglomerate Tata Group and Singapore Airlines.
Singapore Airlines recently resumed nonstop flights to New York and will restart flights to San Francisco early next month.
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Editor
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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