'Situation is evolving': Amid India-Maldives row, Vistara says it'll monitor demand for flights to Male

As the India-Maldives row erupted in the last couple of days, full service carrier Vistara on Monday said it will monitor the demand for flights between the two countries as the "situation is evolving right now".

The row happened over disparaging remarks by Maldivian ministers after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Lakshadweep.

Vistara, a joint venture between the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, which began operating in 2015, operates one flight each on a daily basis from Mumbai and Delhi to Male.

Airline's Chief Commercial Officer Deepak Rajawat said the Tata-owned carrier has not cancelled anything as of now and will monitor the demand for flights.

"The situation is very evolving right now... we will have to monitor in a week or so," he said at a media briefing in response to queries about the Maldives situation.

Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet also operate flights to the Maldives. There were no comments from the three airlines on the current situation.

Meanwhile, the Maldivian envoy to India was on Monday summoned to the external affairs ministry and was conveyed strong concern over remarks posted on social media against Prime Minister Narendra Modi by a number of ministers of the Maldives.

The government of the Maldives on Sunday suspended three deputy ministers for derogatory social media posts against Modi.

The three deputy ministers criticised Modi for his post on ‘X’ following his visit to Lakshadweep, inferring that it was an attempt to project the Union Territory as an alternative tourist destination to the Maldives.

The disparaging remarks by the ministers have drawn flak in India, with many celebrities urging people on X to explore domestic tourist destinations instead of going to the Maldives.

There were also posts on social media claiming that some Indians are cancelling their scheduled trip to the Maldives in view of the row.

The Maldivian foreign ministry said the government is aware of “derogatory remarks” on social media platforms against foreign leaders and that the personal views do not represent its position.

“The government of Maldives is aware of derogatory remarks on social media platforms against foreign leaders and high-ranking individuals. These opinions are personal and do not represent the views of the government of Maldives,” the Maldivian foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday. 

Vistara also said on Monday it was confident of receiving its last 787 wide-body jet from Boeing by March or April, despite a recent incident on a narrow-body 737 MAX 9 that lost part of its fuselage.

"We will hit a fleet size of 70 aircraft by March or April 2024," Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan said on a media call on Monday, much earlier than its previous timeline of end-2024.

Vistara currently operates a fleet of 67 jets, mostly single-aisle Airbus A320s and five Boeing 787s.

Kannan said he also expects to get all legal approvals for Vistara's merger with larger carrier Air India in the first half of 2024 and to merge operations by mid-2025 at the latest.

Vistara is also closely tracking developments regarding the 737 MAX 9, Kannan said, but clarified that the incident on Sunday involving a new Alaska Airlines plane would not affect them.

Separately, aviation regulator DGCA said on Monday that it was "satisfied" with the checks conducted by domestic airlines that operate the Boeing 737 MAX 8 following the Alaska Airlines incident.

With inputs from Reuters and India Today