Air India has completed its integration of Vistara, creating India’s largest international carrier which will operate under the Air India brand.

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

Air India Completes Integration of Vistara

Air India has officially completed its merger with Vistara, creating a unified full-service air carrier that will operate under the Air India brand.

It is the final step in the integration process which began two years ago and comes just six weeks after the merger of Air India’s low-cost airlines Air India Express and AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India) on October 1, 2024.

The consolidation of the four Tata-owned airlines into one group, which will operate as one full-service and one low-cost airline, is part of an ongoing five-year transformation program focused on establishing Air India Group as a world-class leader in the aviation industry.

The unified Air India Group will now operate 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 will operate over 5,600 weekly flights and connect more than 90 domestic and international destinations with a fleet of 208 aircraft.

Air India Managing Director and CEO Campbell Wilson calls the merger of Air India and Vistara a “significant milestone,” adding:
“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.”

The new unified full-service carrier will operate flights as Air India with the airline code “AI” while Vistara aircraft can be identified by a four-digit flight number beginning with the digit “2.” For example, moving forward flight UK 955 would become AI 2955.

Preparation for the full-service merger began more than two years ago. During that time, a 600,000 square-foot training facility has opened with the capacity to train 2,000 employees per day, and more than 6,000 Vistara staff have been integrated into the organization.

More than a quarter of a million customer bookings have been migrated since the merger began, and 4.5 million Club Vistara frequent flyer accounts have been transferred to Air India’s Flying Returns program, which has now been renamed Maharaja Club.

The completion of the merger also means Singapore Airlines, which held a 49% share in Vistara earlier, will now become a 25.1% shareholder in the new Air India group.

Conclusion

Air India has officially completed its merger with Vistara, creating a unified full-service air carrier that will operate under the Air India brand.

The announcement comes just six weeks after the merger of Air India’s low-cost airlines Air India Express and AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India).

Members of Vistara’s loyalty program, Club Vistara, have already been transferred to Air India’s Flying Returns program, which has now been renamed Maharaja Club.