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. 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 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 with an Indian heart.
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 and offers an extended worldwide connectivity to over 800 destinations through more than 75 codeshare and interline partners.
Preparation for the full-service merger commenced in earnest 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. 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 to Air India’s recently-redesigned frequent flyer program, Maharaja Club.
Given the unprecedented nature and complexity of the parallel mergers, which coincide with the Group’s significant expansion and transformation programs, close contact was maintained with India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) which supported and monitored the process throughout. The merger also received support from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and other key stakeholders, including multiple international regulators.
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 USD 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.
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.”
He continued, “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.”
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.
Featured image credited to Air India
