Dubai: Vistara enters Gulf region; appoints Sharaf Travels as GSA

Bellevision Media Network

Dubai, 30 Aug 2015: Vistara, joint venture of Tata and Singapore International Airlines, India’s fastest growing full service carrier, announced its entry into the Gulf region today with the appointment of Sharaf Travels LLC as its General Sales Agent (GSA). Sharaf Travels will represent Vistara in the GCC territories of UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Established over 25 years ago in the UAE, Sharaf Travels, part of the well reputed Sharaf Group conglomerate, has built and nurtured long and enduring partnerships with over 19 leading airlines from around the world.
 
‘We are honoured to represent Vistara and reinforce the airline’s commitment to provide a personalised and seamless flying experience for its customers from the GCC region. Our core strategy will be to engage with leading travel agents/tour operators and passengers by providing valuable support and service on behalf of Vistara. We are confident that this association will help us enhance Vistara’s footprint in this market,’ said Ibrahim Sharaf, President - Sharaf Group.
 
Making the announcement, Phee Teik Yeoh, CEO, Vistara underlined the significance of the initiative, stating, ‘We recognize that the Gulf countries are among the fastest growing in the world today, and are delighted to have established a presence here in less than 8 months after we launched domestic services in India. Vistara is thrilled to have Sharaf Travels as our partner to lead our sales and servicing activities in the Middle East. As pioneers in the travel fraternity, Sharaf Travels will help us provide a personalised and seamless travel experience to our customers from the region.’
 
At present, Vistara offers 245 weekly flights out of 10 destinations in India, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Goa, Guwahati and Bagdogra.  Addition of Bhubaneswar to the network has been announced with services commencing from October 1, 2015. A full service airline, Vistara is the first to provide a Premium Economy Class in domestic air travel within India. With a unique cabin configuration of 148 seats (16 Business Class, 36 Premium Economy and 96 Economy Class), Vistara has up to 20% less seats than our competitors with the same aircraft model, thus providing more leg space and comfort to its customers. Some differentiated services that Vistara offers are the value based Frequent Flyer program, Club Vistara, a healthy and wholesome menu featuring regional and global cuisine, comfortable and spacious seating, and Samsung tables with preloaded content for Business Class customers.  Soon, we will also be introducing a unique in-flight entertainment service supplied by BAE Systems that features wireless streaming to customers PEDs (Personal Electronic Devices) in all classes.  Building a strong growth path on the pillars of service and operational excellence, Vistara recently achieved the benchmark of flying 5,00,000 happy customers across its network. The airline has also consistently achieved the industry’s best OTP (On-Time Performance) since its launch.
 
About Vistara (TATA SIA Airlines Limited): TATA SIA Airlines Limited, known by the brand name Vistara, is a joint venture between Tata Sons Limited and Singapore Airlines Limited (SIA) with Tata Sons holding the majority stake of 51 percent in the company and SIA holding the remaining 49 percent. Vistara brings together Tata’s and SIA’s legendary hospitality and  renowned service excellence to launch the finest full service carrier in India aimed at creating memorable and personalized flying experiences for its customers. Vistara commenced its commercial operations on January 9, 2015 with an aim to set new standards in the aviation industry in India.
 
About Sharaf Travels: Headquartered in the UAE, Sharaf Travels is part of the well reputed privately owned Sharaf Group conglomerate. Having being established over 25 years ago, Sharaf Travels is well versed with the pulse of the GCC region’s travel fraternity, establishing and nurturing long and enduring partnerships with over 19 leading Airlines from all over the world.

 
For further information about Vistara in Dubai contact: gsauk@sharaftravel.com / Tel. +971 4 359 5000.