Air India completes merger with fellow Indian carrier Vistara

Air India Group has completed its long-awaited merger of Vistara in a move designed to create a “full-service carrier of scale”.

The Air India-Vistara merger, which was first announced two years ago, sees the disappearance of the Vistara brand after nine years in operation with its last flights taking off on Monday (11 November).

The completion follows the merger of budget airlines Air India Express and AIX Connect, which was formerly known as Air Asia India, on 1 October. Indian conglomerate Tata owns all four airlines.

The expanded Air India Group will operate 300 aircraft on 312 routes to 55 domestic and 48 international destinations. Vistara has been operating flights from London, Paris and Frankfurt to India using its fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Campbell Wilson, managing director and CEO of Air India, said: “The merger of Air India and Vistara completes the consolidation and restructuring phase of the Air India Group’s post-privatisation transformation journey, and is thus 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.”

Wilson added that the company was committed to “creating a world-class global airline with an Indian heart”.

All flights will now operate under the Air India brand, although services using former Vistara aircraft can be identified by a special four-digit Air India code beginning with the digit “2”.

Another change sees members of Vistara’s loyalty programme, Club Vistara, being transferred to Air India’s Flying Returns programme, which has been renamed as Maharaja Club.

Following the completion of the merger, Singapore Airlines, which previously held a 49 per cent stake in Vistara, becomes a 25.1 per cent shareholder in the Air India Group.