Vistara Completes Merger With Air India

As India's top full-service airline, Vistara distinguished itself in a market dominated by budget airlines throughout its ten years of business by delivering high-quality products and services. Before?its merger with Air India Limited , the flagship airline of the Tata Group , the airline operated?its last flight on Monday.?It would be an understatement to say that Vistara successfully created a distinct place for itself in the Indian flyer's consciousness, as seen by the flyers' nostalgic social media responses.

After the Tata Company purchased Air India from the government in 2022, the merger process began. After the merger, 新加坡航空 , which formerly owned 49 percent of Vistara, would now hold 25.1% of Air India. It was decided to keep the Air India name and retire the Vistara brand for the combined airline since Air India is a much older airline and its brand has a higher recall value worldwide.

However, the news of the merger raised questions among consumers over Vistara's post-merger product and service quality. Air India was financially stressed when under government control, and this was evident in the quality of its products and services, which were regarded as falling short of what one would expect from a full-service airline. The now-private airline nonetheless maintains a significant number of outdated, dilapidated aircraft despite having a massive fleet modernization and growth strategy.

The Air India group may have chosen to maintain the "Vistara experience" for customers during the first few months of the merger for this reason. Although the flight numbers will switch to those of Air India, all current Vistara flights will still be flown by the current Vistara crew and with Vistara's current fleet of aircraft. It is anticipated that the new and expanded Air India will be held to the same standards as Vistara.

Product distinction is expected to last at least until June, when Air India's $400 million upgrade work for its legacy narrow-body aircraft is expected to be finished, according to sources. Air India will soon be able to deliver a consistent product throughout its fleet when new aircraft are added and older aircraft are renovated, making the planes essentially fungible.

More than 45 lakh members of the loyalty program and more than 2.7 lakh passenger reservations have been transferred from Vistara to Air India's digital platforms in recent months. Customers who have reservations on Vistara flights that were planned on or after November 12 have been informed that their reservations have been transferred to Air India. For the expanded fleet to function well following the merger, some 140 Vistara systems have been moved.

More than 3,300 crew members, 70 aircraft that fly more than 320 flights a day, 3,385 Vistara suppliers, and 86 IT contracts are also involved in the conversion. Additionally, around 6,500 Vistara workers have transferred to Air India.