The High-flying CEOVinod Kannan, chief executive officer at Vistara, was appointed when the aviation industry was battling the third wave of COVID-19

With the inception of the pandemic, the aviation industry went through a turbulent phase. Navigating through the adverse pandemic-ridden period was a challenge for the entire industry and Vistara Airline was no different. The airline embraced these challenges with an undeterred spirit and turned them into opportunities.

Vinod Kannan, chief executive officer at Vistara, was appointed when the aviation industry was battling the third wave of COVID-19. Undoubtedly, the pressure was huge! "The situation demanded the organization to respond as fast as possible while continuing to provide the customer experience that Vistara is renowned for," said Kannan.

Under his leadership, the airline has been cohesively working towards the goal of carving a niche in the market. Currently, it has a fleet of 53 aircraft which is over 25 per cent more than pre-covid and it aims to reach a fleet size of 70 by the end of 2023. "With new aircraft joining our fleet progressively, we have been steadily densifying our domestic as well as international network."

Having recently launched new operations, the airline operates in 31 domestic and 11 international destinations. "We have continuously and strategically worked on densifying our network to ensure comprehensive connectivity for our customers. We recently added two new international routes connecting Pune with Singapore and Mumbai with Kathmandu and Dhaka."

In terms of capacity, it operates approximately 260 flights per day which is also significantly higher than pre-covid levels.

"Being an intuitively thoughtful brand, we try to step into the customer's shoes to understand their expectations and continuously enhance their journey accordingly. Earlier this year, we not only restored pre-covid services that were truncated temporarily due to Covid-19 regulatory guidelines, but also introduced a slew of exclusive offerings to create a memorable flying experience for our customers."

Since July, Vistara has been maintaining the second largest domestic market share in India and flying more than 1 million domestic passengers every month. It is the only Indian airline featured amongst the World's Top 20 Airlines by Skytrax (World Airline Awards 2022).

Vistara is famous for its performance-oriented work culture that offers all employees freedom and support to grow while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. "We have successfully implemented a state-of-the-art, fully automated crew rostering solution for improved management of our 2,500-plus cabin crew and pilots across the network," he said.

The growth of any company is directly proportional to the leadership skills of the top executives, in case of Vistara, the company has an approachable and solution-oriented CEO. "My personal belief has been to never turn down an idea. I take each day as an opportunity to learn new things – I learn from everyone around me. In fact, I look forward to some of the meetings with team members across various divisions and stations," said Vinod, who is responsible for the growth of 4,700 people working across geographies.