Vistara takes delivery of its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Vistara Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner — Photo: © Lufthansa Technik

Indian full-service airline Vistara has taken delivery of its first wide-body aircraft, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

The aircraft, registered as VT-TSD, was delivered from Boeing’s site at Seattle Paine Field Airport. It took off on its delivery flight on Friday morning and arrived in Delhi on Saturday.

By launching long-haul operations using the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, Vistara also becomes India’s first airline to fly the 787-9. State-owned flag carrier Air India only operates the smaller 787-8 version. Since competitor Jet Airways had ceased operations in April 2019, Air India currently is the only Indian airline offering long-haul flights using wide-body aircraft.

Six Boeing 787s were ordered by Vistara at the Farnborough Airshow in 2018, with options for four additional ones.

The carrier’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner has a total of 299 seats in a three-class cabin configuration.

Vistara will operate the Boeing 787-9 within India for a limited period of time from March 2020 before deploying it on international long-haul routes. The company, which is a joint venture between Singapore Airlines and Tata Group, has not yet disclosed planned destinations for the aircraft.

Its fleet currently consists of 40 aircraft, including both Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 family aircraft. The airline operates A320ceo and A320neo and is due to add almost 50 more A320neo and A321neo planes. A few Boeing 737-800 jets were acquired in mid-2019 after Jet Airways went out of business, and are since part of Vistara’s fleet.