Tough operating conditions not to impact international foray: Vistara
New Delhi, Sep 1 : Full service carrier Vistara on Saturday said that the tough operating conditions -- high jet fuel prices along with a weak rupee -- will not impact plans to launch international operations slated for the end of 2018.
According to the airline's Chief Executive Leslie Thng, the airline plans to reduce expenditure by inducting technology enabled solutions in the non-safety, services or customer facing aspects of its operations.
Further, the company plans to re-negotiate contracts, once it expands operations and inducts more aircraft.
Currently, the domestic airline industry is under pressure from high fuel prices, weak rupee and low air fares.
The company official spoke to reporters at an event held here to unveil the airline's 22nd aircraft, an Airbus A320neo with a "retro-livery" (paint scheme) which is the first of its kind in India
"The livery recreates the one used in the 1940s by Tata Air Lines, India's very first airline that was founded by J.R.D. Tata, and the aircraft also bears the registration VT-ATV that was originally used by a Tata Air Lines DC-3 aircraft," the airline said in a statement.
"This striking retro-livery is also a celebration of 150 years of the Tata group, and it reclaims for Vistara the space once held by the pioneers of aviation in India...."
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
