Vistara (UK, Delhi International) has stalled plans to launch its first international route to Colombo International due to the dip in demand following the Easter terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka, The Economic Times has reported.

The full-service carrier, a 51/49 joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines Group, is currently working on an alternative plan but did not reveal which city it could choose to launch international flights instead. Vistara has applied for a number of international traffic rights left unused after the grounding of Jet Airways (JAI, Mumbai International) but is competing against Air India, SpiceJet, IndiGo Airlines, and other carriers willing to use them.

The airline initially planned to launch flights to Colombo in September 2019, operating daily from Delhi International using A320-200neo aircraft. Vistara received its permit to operate international flights in March 2019. India and Sri Lanka have an open skies agreement in place which allowed the carrier to avoid the need to apply for specific route rights.

Meanwhile, low-cost carrier rival AirAsia India (Bangalore International), which is also 51%-owned by Tata Sons, plans to debut international flights by October 2019.

COO Sanjay Kumar told The Economic Times the airline was looking at short-haul destinations in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Thailand, reflecting the priorities that AirAsia Group Deputy CEO (Airlines) Bo Lingam revealed to ch-aviation earlier this year. The carrier has yet to receive its clearance to launch international operations, although it has already crossed the required threshold of twenty aircraft in its fleet. Lingam previously told ch-aviation that AirAsia India was expecting the go-ahead for international flights by the end of May 2019.