Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines Group injected additional INR9 billion rupees (USD130 million) into their 51/49 joint venture Vistara (UK, Delhi International) to finance the airline's fleet growth and international expansion, Live Mint has reported.

The Indian conglomerate provided INR4.6 billion rupees (USD66.3 million), while the Singaporean group injected INR4.4 billion rupees (USD63.4 million). The refinancing was conducted through two separate new share issues in December 2018 and March 2019.

"The proceeds of the rights issue will be mostly used to fund the purchase and lease of fifty-six aircraft. The money will also help us in lowering losses and attaining break-even faster," an airline official said.

The fifty-six aircraft are thirteen A320-200neo on order from Airbus, thirty-seven such aircraft from lessors, and six B787-9s on order from Boeing.

The official clarified that out of the entire batch of fifty A320neo, between nine and twelve will replace A320-200s while the remainder will be used to grow the fleet.

The two recent rounds of refinancing follow a larger one in October 2018, when Vistara received INR20 billion rupees (USD288 million) from its two shareholders.