The Vistara-Air India merger has granted Singapore Airlines a 25.1% stake in the newly unified airline, with operations now fully integrated under Air India.
Vistara will operate its final flight under its own brand on Monday, November 11, before fully integrating with Air India. Starting November 12, Vistara’s operations will merge with Air India, transitioning into a single, unified service under the Air India brand.
The government has approved Singapore Airlines’ foreign direct investment in the Air India-Vistara merger, facilitating their integration into a single full-service carrier under the Air India brand.
Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, has fully integrated with Air India, which is also owned by Tata Group. This merger brings the two carriers together under one umbrella.
The airlines had announced that, starting September 3, 2024, customers would no longer be able to make bookings with Vistara for travel dates on or after November 12, 2024.
The Vistara-Air India merger, first announced in November 2022, will result in Singapore Airlines holding a 25.1% stake in the unified airline upon the deal’s completion.
Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan stated that the merger with Air India is designed to offer passengers more options by expanding the fleet and network, while also improving the overall travel experience.
“Cross-functional teams from Air India and Vistara have been working together for months to ensure the smooth transition of aircraft, flying crew, ground staff, and, most importantly, our valued customers, into the new Air India,” Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson had said previously.
With Vistara merging into Air India today, the number of full-service carriers in India has dropped to one, down from five over the past 17 years. This shift follows the liberalization of foreign direct investment norms in 2012, which led to the creation of Vistara and other foreign-invested airlines.
Vistara’s merger marks the end of a long era of joint ventures with foreign carriers in India’s aviation sector.
In 2012, the UPA government permitted foreign airlines to own up to 49 percent of domestic carriers, paving the way for partnerships like Jet Airways with Etihad and the formation of Vistara and AirAsia India.
Vistara, the only new full-service carrier to emerge in the last decade, was founded in 2015. Meanwhile, airlines like Kingfisher and Air Sahara faded away, and Jet Airways collapsed in 2019.
