Standing inside the 787-9 plane at the Boeing’s facility, Thng said the Dreamliner would be initially deployed within India on domestic routes for one to two months for the crew to get familiar with the aircraft. It is also required as per the regulations in the country. “We are looking at a few destinations for our long haul flights. Which destination would become the first depends on the approvals. Work is on to finalise the new destinations,” he said.

The delivery of the Dreamliner is the first among the six that Vistara has ordered for delivery between 2020 and 2021. “The second would come to us by the end of next month. This would give us a lot of possibility in trying to fly to at least two destinations,” Thng said. “Europe is one of the places we are looking at in terms of destination. Far East is also an area we are looking at,” Thng added. Vistara in February also announced expansion of its two-way codeshare agreement with Japan Airlines, which allows an airline to sell seats of other airline on its system.

Vistara stated that Japan Airlines will be able to sell tickets on its flights connecting Delhi to 19 Indian cities. On the other hand, the Indian carrier would be able to seek seats on five Japan Airlines flights going out of Tokyo. This could mean that Dreamliner may first run on Delhi-Tokyo route. Later the airline may also aim to start a Delhi-London flight. Vistara currently has a one-way codeshare partnership with British Airways. Thng said that this will soon be a two-way codeshare partnership. A wide-body aircraft helps the airline to go long distances that could cover the European, American as well as Far East markets.