Vistara gets US permission to fly to US
Full service carrier Vistara has secured permission from the US department of transportation to operate services to the US. Currently, only Indian national carrier Air India is operating flights between India and the U.S as Jet Airways, which also used to operate services to the US, stopped in 2019.
It is worth noticing that Tata group, which owns the Vistara, is likely to take over Air India in near future.
A Vistara spokesperson confirmed “reaching out to the relevant authorities in the United States of America to secure permissions to commence operations to the US. While we have received a temporary foreign air carrier permit from the department of transportation, USA, the process is still ongoing. We shall be sharing further details at an appropriate time.”
Vistara is learnt to have sought Indian DGCA approval for an “extended diversion time operations” or EDTO of 180 minutes for its Dreamliners. This will technically allow the Vistara Dreamliners to mount nonstops to and from both the east and west coasts of North America, a Times of India report said.
According to the report, the US is one of the most important markets for Indian carriers and Covid has led to a preference among flyers to travel direct between the two countries instead of going via hubs in Europe, Gulf and SE Asia. This major shift will benefit carriers offering nonstops between India and North America.
