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Pilots from Indian airline Vistara to fly for SIA, Scoot

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  • Pilots from Indian airline Vistara to fly for SIA, Scoot

    Pilots from Indian airline Vistara to fly for SIA, Scoot

    Up to 24 pilots from Indian carrier Vistara will fly with Singapore Airlines (SIA) and its budget arm, Scoot, for about a year, joining the airlines progressively from last month.

    The arrangement will help the Singapore carriers meet their manpower needs in the near term and provide Vistara pilots with experience in long-haul flights.

    Vistara is 49 per cent owned by SIA and the rest by Indian conglomerate Tata.

    The airline, which started domestic flights in January 2015, had planned to launch international operations last year. But the foray has been delayed due to regulatory issues. The airline should get the approval it needs sometime this month, said Mr Kapil Kaul, head of the Centre for Aviation in India. It would take a few months after that for international flights to begin, he added.

    In the meantime, SIA and Scoot will take in up to 12 Vistara pilots each. The Indian airline would not say how many pilots it currently has.

    A Scoot spokesman said the Vistara pilots "will supplement Scoot's needs as our fleet expands and reduce numbers needed from external recruitment in the near term". She added: "They are expected to be with Scoot for a period of not more than 12 months before returning to Vistara."

    SIA said the Indian pilots coming here have undergone the airline's assessment.

    Responding to concerns among some SIA pilots that their flying hours and, as a result, flying allowances, would be reduced with the entry of the Vistara pilots, SIA's spokesman said: "There will be no expected loss of flying hours... as the fleet is expanding."

    The investment in Vistara is a key part of SIA's strategy to gain a foothold in the fast-growing Indian air travel market. Since March 14, 2017, SIA and its regional arm SilkAir have been code-sharing on flights operated by Vistara. SIA and SilkAir customers can easily book a flight from Singapore to an Indian destination, where they connect to a Vistara flight.

    Members of SIA's and Vistara's frequent-flier programmes - KrisFlyer and Club Vistara - enjoy additional tier benefits as a result of the code-share partnership. The tie-up will allow SIA to connect customers to even more places in India and beyond when Vistara starts flying internationally, said the airline's spokesman.

    The SIA group, comprising the main carrier, SilkAir and Scoot, currently flies 143 times weekly to 14 cities in India - Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi, Chennai, Coimbatore, Kochi, Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Visakhapatnam, Amritsar, Lucknow and Tiruchirappalli.

    Vistara operates flights to more than 20 Indian cities with about the same number of single-aisle planes, and plans to add about 60 new aircraft, including six Boeing 787-9.

    While the Indian air travel market has been somewhat subdued in the last few years with annual growth rates of under 10 per cent, this year should see a return to double-digit growth, said Mr Kaul. And although competition continues to be tough, fares are holding up and airlines should end the year well, he added.

  • #2
    Seriously can't even find 24 pilots from SG?

    SIA is paying below market rate or what's the real reason for taking Vistara's pilots?

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    • #3
      This might provide some small insight into why we're not seeing the oldest 777s in SQ's fleet disappear so fast. In the last 2 year's there has been a marked growth in total SQ's passenger fleet size after many years of remaining stable at around 105.

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      • #4
        There have been recent reports since a couple of years ago about India;s aviation and although have the "potential" but the few low costs cariers are alrady feeling the pinch and most of them have been in deficit and predictably 2 - 3 airlines will diasappear. There are like GoAir, Indigo, SpiceJet, Air Asia and Air India Express. Most of these are not making any profits and even Air India have been on sale and still no buyers. Vistara will be in for a long ride without making money if at all and will take many years to make it if at all.
        hence, believed now they have more pilots but not enough flights for them and hence to fly for Scoot/SIA.

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