Vistara Cancels 14 Flights to Frankfurt and Paris Amid Delay in Delivery of B787 Aircraft

Vistara, a leading Indian full-service carrier and a joint venture between the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines (SIA), recently cancelled 14 international flights, including its Delhi-Frankfurt and Delhi-Paris services, due to a delay in the delivery of B787 aircraft leased from Irish lessor AerCap, the world’s largest aircraft leasing company.

According to the Business Standard on Wednesday, which cited aviation industry executives, the B787 aircraft—also known as the Dreamliner—was anticipated to be delivered by October but will now likely arrive at some point in November as it is still undergoing overhaul and maintenance processes.

Vistara’s cancelled additional flights to Frankfurt and Paris

Starting from October 30th, Vistara intended to increase the number of flights between Delhi and Paris from two per week to five per week and to operate six weekly flights between Delhi and Frankfurt. Tickets for these Vistara 787-operated flights were already available for purchase.

However, the airline had to cancel about eight flights between Delhi and Frankfurt and six flights on the New Delhi-Paris route between October 30 and November 6 due to the third 787 still not having been delivered.

“We confirm that there has been a slight, unavoidable delay in the delivery of our third (leased) Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, thereby impacting select bookings, of a few days, made for Vistara flights to/from Paris and Frankfurt.”

Business Standard quoted a Vistara spokesperson

Furthermore, the spokesperson stated that the company regrets the inconvenience caused to its customers and that the airline is in contact with them to provide them with the best options.

The aircraft’s maintenance and refurbishment process are still not completed, according to people with knowledge of the matter, and its new delivery date is now in November.

Lease of Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

It’s worth noting that this is Vistara’s first Dreamliner lease. The Indian full-service carrier already owns two Dreamliner, which it purchased from Boeing.

Vistara was forced to lease the plane after Boeing failed to deliver four additional Dreamliner planes to it in the previous two years. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States wants Boeing to make changes to the Dreamliner production line before restarting deliveries.

Vistara ordered six Dreamliner from Boeing in 2018 but has only received two. The second plane will arrive in August 2020. Since then, it has been waiting for the remaining Dreamliner to arrive in order to expand its international flight operations.

The Dreamliner is a wide-body aircraft with a larger fuel tank that can easily operate on long-distance international routes.