Vistara is continuing with its aggressive international growth strategy. The airline has announced that it will add Dammam, Saudi Arabia to its network.
Second Saudi Arabian city
Starting 1st March 2023, Vistara will operate a daily flight between Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport and Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport with the following schedule:
- Mumbai-Dammam
- Departure time: 21:20
- Arrival time: 23:10
- Flight time: 4 hours and 20 minutes
- Flight number: UK237
- Frequency: Daily
- Dammam-Mumbai
- Departure time: 23:55
- Arrival time: 06:15 (the next day)
- Flight time: 3 hours and 50 minutes
- Flight number: UK238
- Frequency: Daily
These flights will be operated by Vistara’s Airbus A320neo aircraft featuring 8 recliner-style Business Class seats, 24 Premium Economy seats and 132 standard Economy Class seats.
We are excited to expand our presence in Saudi Arabia with the addition of Dammam as the second city in the Kingdom, after Jeddah. Integral to the Saudi Vision 2030, Dammam is a key administrative destination that is home to the largest port in the Gulf and some of the major business headquarters. We are confident that customers from India and Saudi Arabia will appreciate experiencing our award winning product and services on the route as they fly India’s most loved airline.
said Vinod Kannan, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara.
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Dammam will be Vistara’s second city in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after Jeddah. The airline launched flights connecting Mumbai with Jeddah in August 2022. Dammam will be the airline’s 5th destination in the Middle East, the other four being Dubai, Muscat, Abu Dhabi and Jeddah.
Continues its international expansion
Vistara is continuing with its international expansion strategy. In India’s domestic market, the competition is very big and yields are very low. And for a full service carrier like Vistara, it becomes very hard to survive. Vistara is now focusing more on its international network than domestic.
Vistara recently announced that it will not place any new aircraft order, now that it is being merged with Air India. The airline will take delivery of the remaining aircraft on order, which will take the total number of aircraft in the airline’s fleet to 70. Most of these new aircraft will be used to open up new international routes or expand capacity on existing ones, according to the airline.
The expansion is clearly visible. Its international network expanded by more than 180% in 2022 as it added new routes such as Mumbai-Muscat, Pune-Singapore, Mumbai-Jeddah etc.
The results are also visible. For the first time since its inception, the airline announced a profitable quarter. While it did not reveal bottom line numbers, Vistara said that it has turned a profit in the 3rd quarter (October-December) of financial year 2022-23. The Delhi-based carrier has also crossed $1 billion in revenue this financial year. While this all happened on the back of strong demand for travel and due to peak season, turning a profit in the Indian market and that too being a full-service carrier is no mean feat!
Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see how Vistara’s international network pans out before finally being merged with Air India.
Meanwhile, Vistara recently announced that it will launch flights to New Goa Manohar International Airport, which is the second airport in Goa.
Featured image by Vistara
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