As Air India-Vistara Merger Completes, All Eyes On Transformation Consequent to the merger of Vistara and Air India, Singapore Airlines, which held a 49 per ecnt share in Vistara, becomes a 25.1 per cent shareholder in the resultant Air India group
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The consolidation of the four Tata-owned airlines into one Group operating one full-service and one low-cost airline is part of the ongoing, five-year transformation program, Vihaan.AI, which is focussed on establishing Air India Group as a world-class global aviation company. Air India Group has completed the operational integration and legal merger between Air India and Vistara, creating a full-service carrier of scale and marking a significant milestone in the post-privatisation transformation journey. Earlier, the group completed the merger of the low-cost airlines Air India Express and AIX Connect.
Campbell Wilson, MD & CEO, 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."
The new full-service entity Air India operates over 5,600 weekly flights and connects more than 90 domestic and international destinations with a fleet of 208 aircraft. The airline will now be flying over 120,000 passengers every day and offers an extended worldwide connectivity to over 800 destinations through more than 75 codeshare and interline partners. The unified Air India Group now operates over 8,300 weekly flights on 312 routes, connecting more than 100 domestic and international destinations with a fleet of 300 aircraft.
New arrangements
Preparation for the full-service merger commenced more than two years ago and has seen the induction of more than 6,000 staff from Vistara into a new organisation structure, harmonisation of operating procedures across the four airlines, and alignment of over 140 IT systems.
Besides the consolidation of the four Tata-owned airlines, the Vihaan.AI transformation program has seen commitment to more than 500 new aircraft, delivery of which is well underway, and the commencement of a $400 million interior retrofit program for legacy aircraft. A new 600,000 square feet training facility with the capacity to train 2,000 employees per-day has been opened, and ground has been broken on a 12-bay maintenance base that will be operational in early 2026.
More than 9,000 new employees have been inducted and trained, and the airlines' IT platform has been entirely modernised, amongst much else.
Consequent to the merger of Vistara and Air India, Singapore Airlines, which held a 49 per ecnt share in Vistara, becomes a 25.1 per cent shareholder in the resultant Air India group.
The unified full-service carrier will operate flights as 'Air India' with the airline code 'AI'. Post merger, Vistara aircraft will be operated by Air India, with the Vistara crew and service proposition. In addition, the existing members of Vistara's loyalty program Club Vistara have been transferred to Air India's Flying Returns program, now renamed 'Maharaja Club'.
