Operations of Vistara to start in the name of Air India from Tuesday

New Delhi| Full service airline Vistara will make its last flight on Monday. The airline will join the Air India group from Tuesday. With this merger, the number of full service airlines in the Indian airline business will reduce to only one. Vistara was operating as a joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines. Now Singapore Airlines will also hold 25.1 percent stake in the new entity after the merger with Air India.

In the first month after the merger, more than 1,15,000 passengers with Vistara tickets will fly under the name Air India. However, the group has assured that Vistara’s experience will not change. With the merger, Vistara will add ‘2’ next to the airline’s flight code. For example Vistara’s existing flight code UK 955 Flight will now become AI 2955.

Air India has announced that the same product and service experience as Vistara will be available to the public in future also. Help desk kiosks will be installed at airports to help with the changeover. Signage and information at international airports will take passengers to the correct check-in desk. Vistara Contact Center will redirect calls to Air India representatives to ensure continuity. Loyalty members of Vistara will be transferred to the Air India programme.

In the year 2012 when the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government allowed foreign airlines to acquire up to 49% stake in the domestic airline, it had led Jet Airways to acquire 24% stake from the Gulf airline Etihad. During the same period, AirAsia India and Vistara also emerged under the leadership of Tata Group. Vistara was the only full-service airline to start operations in Indian skies in the last decade.

Over the past few years, airlines such as Kingfisher and Air Sahara, known as JetLite, have ceased operations. Jet Airways, operating for 25 years, was grounded in April 2019 due to financial problems and is now set to close. Vistara was started in January 2015. Singapore Airlines held 49 per cent and Tata Group 51 per cent of the airline.