Indian airline Vistara wants to bring back its services to Sharjah, Doha

Indian airline Vistara wants to bring back its services to Sharjah, Doha

Dubai: The Indian airline Vistara is in talks with aviation authorities to have more destinations in the Gulf, according to the CEO. “We used to operate flights to Doha and Sharjah under the air bubble agreement (during Covid times), but had to pull back once normal scheduled operations resumed,” said Vinod Kannan, CEO. “We are looking at more points wherever bilateral rights are available – that will be announced in due course.” The airline, owned by Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, has services to Dubai, Frankfurt, Paris and London, with Jeddah to be added from August. While Vistara takes it one route at a time, Air India, which was acquired by Tata earlier this year, is looking to regain its dominant position on long-haul routes from India, including into and out of the Gulf. Jet Airways, under a new consortium, will launch domestic operations this year. All this translates to a hyper-competitive aviation market, within India and out. “There is always going to be competition and that includes Middle East airlines such as Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways,” said Kannan. “We are the only Indian airline with a Premium Economy product – the support that we have for the Dubai