Vistara is our New Year gift to India, says CEO

We are going to redefine the experience on the ground and in the air. It involves the entire journey: Phee Teik Yeoh

Vistara is harnessing the legendary hospitality of the Tatas and the service excellence of Singapore Airlines to give customers a very different service experience, says Phee Teik Yeoh, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara. Edited excerpts from an interview.

You said that Vistara has managed to get the Air Operators Permit in record time. AirAsia also claimed the same and burnt up ₹26 crore in the first quarter of operations? What gives you optimism the same will not happen to you?

I think the key difference is we got our AOP on December 15 and we will launch on January 9. We are going to launch soon after the AOP.

Does launching soon after getting the AOP in any way create a problem as far as selling tickets are concerned?

We have been gearing up for the launch... We had initially targeted to launch operations on October 15 but there was a minor setback and we did not get the chance to launch then. We were ready right from the start. When this setback came about we just took more time to refine, go through the drill to reshape our product, so that when we launch the passenger will experience what he has never experienced before.

You are talking about experience, but an Air India or a Jet offers in-flight entertainment, which you are not offering. Will that not be a disadvantage?

I would like to reiterate customer experience is one which is end-to-end. You do not just look at what the product on board is, although it is a part of the overall customer experience.

We are going to redefine the experience on the ground and in the air. It involves the entire journey. From the time the customer books (a ticket) till the time he leaves the airport.

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