Vistara spreads its wings, adds Srinagar, Jammu and Kochi routes

As the last of the full service carriers to join the fray in the Indian skies, Vistara have been running a fairly limited network ever since they launched in January 2015. Headquartered in the capital city of New Delhi, their flights have been mostly north of the Vindhyas, with Bangalore being the only major city covered in the South. Today, they've announced new routes, that include Jammu, Srinagar and Kochi, effective 7 April 2016.


The new routes are as follows:

Flight Number
Origin
Destination
Departure
Arrival
Frequency
Starting From
UK 797
Delhi
Srinagar
1445
1615
Daily
7 April, 2016
UK 717
Delhi
Srinagar
0845
1010
Saturday & Sunday 
7 April, 2016
UK 799*
Delhi
Srinagar
0645
0815
Daily
9 April, 2016
UK 977
Srinagar
Delhi
1655
1830
Daily
7 April, 2016
UK 713
Srinagar
Delhi
1045
1210
Saturday & Sunday 
7 April, 2016
UK 790*
Srinagar
Delhi
1225
1400
Daily
9 April, 2016
UK 995
Mumbai
Kochi
1310
1520
Daily
14 April, 2016
UK 996
Kochi
Mumbai
1550
1745
Daily
14 April, 2016

* UK 799 will transit Srinagar and head to Jammu, while UK 790 will transit Srinagar en route Delhi. Interestingly, these two (Delhi-Jammu and v/v) are marketed as "direct" flights, which in theory they are.

This gives them the opportunity to enhance connectivity using DEL as a hub, and to a lesser extent, Mumbai as well. As a consequence, the following via and connecting flights are now possible:

Via flights
Flight Number
Origin
Destination
Via
Departure
Arrival
Frequency
Starting From
UK 713
Srinagar
Varanasi
Delhi
1045
1445
Saturday & Sunday only
7 April, 2016
UK 977
Srinagar
Mumbai
Delhi
1655
2110
Daily
7 April, 2016
UK 996
Kochi
Delhi
Mumbai
1550
2040
Daily
14 April, 2016
UK 995
Delhi
Kochi
Mumbai
1020
1520
Daily
14 April, 2016

Connecting flights
Flight Number
Origin
Destination
Via
Departure
Arrival
Frequency
Starting From
UK 790/969
Srinagar
Ahmedabad
Delhi
1225
1915
Daily
9 April, 2016
UK 790/813
Srinagar
Bengaluru
Delhi
1225
2005
Daily
9 April, 2016
UK 790/879
Srinagar
Hyderabad
Delhi
1225
1920
Daily
9 April, 2016
UK 977/981
Srinagar
Mumbai
Delhi
1655
2330
Daily
7 April, 2016
UK 790/933
Srinagar
Mumbai
Delhi
1225
1720
Daily
9 April, 2016
UK 790/933
Srinagar
Mumbai
Delhi
1225
1945
Daily
9 April, 2016
UK 790/991
Srinagar
Pune
Delhi
1225
1920
Daily
9 April, 2016
UK 983/797
Bhubaneswar
Srinagar
Delhi
0855
1615
Daily
7 April, 2016
UK 830/797
Hyderabad
Srinagar
Delhi
1000
1615
Daily
7 April, 2016
UK 994/797
Mumbai
Srinagar
Delhi
1025
1615
Daily
7 April, 2016
UK 970/797
Mumbai
Srinagar
Delhi
0850
1615
Daily
7 April, 2016
UK 790/933
Jammu
Mumbai
Srinagar & Delhi
1050
1720
Daily
9 April, 2016
UK 790/879
Jammu
Hyderabad
Srinagar & Delhi
1050
1920
Daily
9 April, 2016
UK 790/991
Jammu
Pune
Srinagar & Delhi
1050
1920
Daily
9 April, 2016
UK 790/813
Jammu
Bangalore
Srinagar & Delhi
1050
2005
Daily
9 April, 2016
UK 790/933
Jammu
Mumbai
Srinagar & Delhi
1050
1945
Daily
9 April, 2016
UK 790/969
Jammu
Ahmedabad
Srinagar & Delhi
1050
1915
Daily
9 April, 2016

In the little over a year that they have been operating, Vistara has, in a slow and structured manner, built up its own route network, which at first glance seems quite unique and different from the normal route patterns. Still a long way off from posing really stiff competition to the more established players such as Air India, Jet Airways, SpiceJet & Indigo, impending change in the country's aviation policy is bound to directly effect the way this airline grows in the short term. 

These new routes also means that they make a further foray into the South with a service from the capital to Kochi via Mumbai. Certainly would be interesting to see how Vistara’s routes further grow as the year progresses.

Readers: What do you think of Vistara's new routes? What more routes would you like to see them offer?

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