Vistara flies into Air India

Tata Group-owned Air India on Tuesday completed its much-awaited merger with Vistara to create an integrated airline, partly owned by Singapore Airlines, that will be flying 1,20,000 passengers daily and connecting over 90 destinations. The amalgamation's completion, announced in November 2022, comes within six weeks of the integration of Air India Express and AIX Connect. 

The two mergers have created a full-service and low-cost carrier of scale for the Tata Group, seeking to establish a "world-class global aviation company with an Indian heart." The amalgamation marks a significant boost and consolidation in the Indian aviation space. Earlier in the day, the nearly 10-year-old Vistara—a joint venture between Tata and Singapore Airlines—flew its last flight from Delhi to Singapore. 

India's largest international carrier

Singapore Airlines (SIA) will invest an additional ₹3,194.5 crore in the enlarged entity as part of the merger. The enlarged Air India will operate over 5,600 weekly flights, connecting more than 90 domestic and international destinations with a fleet of 210 aircraft, according to Air India.

The new entity will fly over 1,20,000 passengers every day and offer extended worldwide connectivity to over 800 destinations through more than 75 codeshare and interline partners. It is now the country's largest international carrier and the second-largest domestic carrier.

"Post-merger, Air India Group operates a combined fleet of 300 aircraft covering 55 domestic and 48 international destinations, with 312 routes and 8,300 weekly flights. The collective staff strength stands at over 30,000," said Air India in its official statement on Tuesday.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) said. "There will be no change to SIA's equity interest of about 25.1 percent in the enlarged Air India, arising from the lower additional capital injection amount."

Flight codes, destinations

While the Vistara flight code 'UK' has faded away, the airline's flights will have the code starting with the prefix 'AI2' to help customers choose at the time of booking, as Vistara was well regarded for its services. In contrast, Air India is in the transformation phase and grapples with some service issues.

"The merger of Air India and Vistara completes the consolidation and restructuring phase of the Air India Group's post-privatisation journey and is a significant milestone. Over the past two years, teams across the four airlines have worked closely together and with other stakeholders to ensure that the transition of people, assets, operations, and, most importantly, customers, was as seamless as possible," said Campbell Wilson, the CEO of Air India.

The iconic 'Maharaja', once synonymous with Air India for a long time, will remain in a different form in the merged entity. Around 45 lakh Club Vistara frequent flyer accounts have been transferred to Air India's flying returns programme, renamed 'Maharaja Club'.

Air India said over 4,000 vendor contracts had been consolidated, and 2,70,000 customer bookings migrated, among many other aspects. Vistara's last flight with the code 'UK' was UK115 from Delhi to Singapore, while UK986 from Mumbai to Delhi was the carrier's last domestic flight. Starting a new chapter, the merged entity operated its first flight with the code 'AI2286' from Doha to Mumbai.

In the domestic sector, the integrated entity's first flight, AI2984, took off from Mumbai to Delhi. All four flights landed at their respective destinations early in the morning on Tuesday.

Indian Airlines' merger with Air India

The Air India-Vistara merger also marks the second major airline industry consolidation in the country after 2006-2007. Now, Air India is the lone full-service Indian carrier.

In 2006-07, Indian Airlines merged with Air India, and Air Sahara merged with Jet Airways. During the same period, Air Deccan was amalgamated with Kingfisher Airlines. Air India, Vistara, and AIX Connect had a combined domestic market share of just over 29 per cent in September.

(By arrangement with livemint.com)