Air India completes merger with Vistara

New Delhi: Air India Group has completed the operational integration and legal merger between Air India and Vistara. 

This follows the merger of the Group’s low-cost airlines, Air India Express and AIX Connect (formerly Air Asia India) on 1 October 2024.

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.

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.

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 organisational structure, harmonisation of operating procedures across the four airlines, and alignment of over 140 IT systems. 

Amongst many other aspects, more than 4,000 vendor contracts have been consolidated, 270,000 customer bookings migrated and 4.5 million Club Vistara frequent flyer accounts inducted into Air India’s recently redesigned frequent flyer program, Maharaja Club.

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, and can be identified by a four-digit flight number beginning with the digit “2” (e.g. UK 955 will become AI 2955).

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’.

Consequent to the merger of Vistara and Air India, Singapore Airlines, which held a 49% share in Vistara, becomes a 25.1% shareholder in the resultant Air India group.

Campbell Wilson, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, 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. Given the scale and scope of this project and its unprecedented nature, I would like to acknowledge the support received from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and others in making this merger possible. I would also like to acknowledge and thank our staff, who have undertaken this task whilst also driving comprehensive transformation across the business and supporting the induction of over 100 additional aircraft to the operating fleet. Finally, I would like to extend our sincere appreciation for the support and encouragement of our customers, for whom all the effort is ultimately intended, and to re-emphasise our commitment to creating a world-class global airline with an Indian heart.”