India's Vistara reports first-ever quarterly profit
BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian full-service carrier Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, on Monday reported a quarterly profit, its first since starting operations in January 2015, as air travel soared.
The privately held airline said its revenue crossed $1 billion and it clocked a net profit, excluding foreign currency loss and non-operating income, in the October-December quarter.
However, the carrier did not disclose a profit number.
Vistara has turned profitable at a time when the Tata group is looking to boost its aviation business by consolidating its three brands - Vistara, low-cost carrier Air Asia and former state-run airline, Air India.
Tata is also set to place an order for some 495 new planes for Air India as it looks to revamp the airline and merge it with Vistara to create a bigger full-service carrier to take on Middle Eastern rivals like Emirates.
Vistara said its international network grew by more than 180% in 2022 and its domestic network by more than 50% as it added new destinations and routes amid a rebound in travel post the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru and Aditi Shah in New Delhi; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
