Vistara bags TripAdvisor’s best airline award in country; no Indian airline in global top 10 list

Leading the global list is Singapore Airlines followed by Qatar Airways and EVA Air.

Vistara will complete five years of operations next year but it has applied permission under the 0/20 rule that would have permitted it to go international before five years.

Tata- SIA’s joint venture Vistara airlines bagged the titles ‘Best Airline — India’ and ‘Best Regional Airline — Asia’ in the 2019 edition of TripAdvisor’s travellers choice awards, the airline said. However, not a single Indian aviation company has made it to the world’s top ten airlines list.

Leading the global list is Singapore Airlines followed by Qatar Airways and EVA Air. Emirates, Japan Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Azul, Air New Zealand, Jet2.com, All Nippon Airways (ANA) are the other pioneers in aviation, globally.

“We are delighted to receive the awards from TripAdvisor. These awards truly testify the dedication and commitment of our staff across the country to delivering a seamless, world-class experience with a touch of intuitive thoughtfulness to millions of our customers,” said Leslie Thng, Chief Executive Officer of Vistara.

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“The awards recognize travellers’ favourite airlines worldwide based on reviews and ratings from our global community,” said Bryan Saltzburg, president of TripAdvisor Flights, Cruise & Car. He also congratulated Vistara for bagging the award twice in a row as Vistara had also got the award for the year 2018 in the country category.

Previously, Vistara Airlines had got the government approval to fly international routes making it the fifth Indian airline with the international flight permit. The company had hoped to launch its international operations last year but it did not get government approval. Vistara had already added 60 aircraft for its international operations ahead of the government clearance.

The airline had also expanded its operations in 16 new routes starting March 2015. With this, it had included routes such as Delhi-Raipur, Delhi-Kolkata, Delhi-Bagdogra and Delhi-Jammu among others.

Currently, Vistara operates in 24 destinations with over 800 flights a week and a fleet of 22 aircraft. The airline has also served 14 million customers since starting operations, the airline said.

Vistara, which was launched in January 2015, will be completing five years of its running next year.

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