Heena Sharma Blog

Air passengers in India can now access in-flight Wi-Fi internet services , as the Union civil aviation ministry, in a long-awaited move, has lifted the restrictions. Through a notification issued on Monday, the government permitted airlines operating in India to provide internet access to passengers. "The Pilot-in-Command may permit access of internet services by passengers on board an aircraft in flight, through Wi-Fi on board, when laptop, smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, e-reader or a point-of-sale device is used in flight mode or airplane mode," the government said in its notification. In February, Tata group's NELCO, in partnership with Panasonic Avionics had launched in-flight Wi-Fi services in India. While taking the delivery of its first Boeing 787-9 aircraft at Everett on last Friday, Vistara CEO Leslie Thng had said it would be the first plane in India to avail of this facility and provide in-flight Wi-Fi services. Read More

Vistara took the delivery of its first wide-body Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner plane on Friday, making it the first Indian airline to fly this aircraft. The plane, which has the registration number VT-TSD, will depart from the Boeing facility here at 2 pm (local time) on Friday and land in Delhi at 2 pm (local time) on Saturday, Vistara officials said here. The new aircraft is the first of the six that Vistara has purchased from Boeing. The second Dreamliner aircraft is currently on the production line and will be delivered soon. Vistara's Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft comes with 299 seats in a three-class cabin configuration, giving customers a choice of business, premium economy and economy cabins. The aircraft features lie-flat business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration that gives a direct aisle access to each business class passenger and a separate premium economy cabin that offers seats in a 2-3-2 configuration. Read More