Indian full-service carrier Vistara will begin flights to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) from November, becoming the airline’s third destination in Europe alongside Frankfurt and London.
The Gurugram-based carrier intends to launch a twice weekly service from Delhi (DEL) on Nov. 7 under a bilateral transport bubble agreement between India and France. Flights will be onboard Boeing 787-9 aircraft, operating on Wednesdays and Sundays.
Outgoing Vistara CEO Leslie Thing said the planned route reflects Vistara’s commitment to growing its global network and further building its presence in Europe.
The outbound service from Delhi will depart at 1.45 p.m., arriving in France’s capital at 6.40 p.m. The return leg leaves Paris at 9.45 p.m. and arrives back in Delhi at 10.30 a.m. the following day.
Vistara—a joint-venture airline between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines—opened its first European route in August 2020, flying between Delhi and London Heathrow (LHR). Service between Delhi and Frankfurt (FRA) started in February this year.
On the DEL-CDG sector, the airline will compete directly with Air France and Air India, which run 4X-weekly Airbus A350-900 and 3X-weekly 787-8 flights respectively. France’s flag-carrier also serves Bengaluru (BRL), Chennai (MAA) and Mumbai (BOM) nonstop from Paris Charles de Gaulle.
Sabre Market Intelligence data shows that Delhi-Paris was the largest city pair between India and France in 2019. Two-way O&D traffic totaling almost 194,000 passengers. About 42% of passengers traveled nonstop between the destinations during the year, with Abu Dhabi and Dubai the largest connecting markets.
Vistara made its maiden international flight in August 2019 and currently offers nine scheduled overseas routes. From Delhi, the airline serves Dhaka (DAC), Doha (DOH), Dubai (DXB), FRA, LHR, Sharjah (SHJ) and Tokyo Haneda (HND). Flights to Male (MLE) and SHJ are also provided from Mumbai.
Earlier this month, the carrier confirmed that Leslie Thng (pictured second right) will depart the business at the end of 2021 after more than four years in charge to take up a role at Singapore Airlines. CCO Vinod Kannan has been named as his replacement and will assume the CEO position from Jan. 1, 2022.
Photo credit: Money Sharma/AFP/Getty Images
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