Vistara will operate its final flight under its own brand on Monday, November 11 and from tomorrow, its operations will be unified with Air India. With this merger, the number of full service carriers in the Indian aviation space will come down to one from five in a span of just over 17 years.
The merger will give Singapore Airlines a 25.1% stake in Air India, marking the end of Vistara, another Indian airline co-owned by a foreign carrier after FDI liberalization.
The event garnered netizens attention with many writing emotional posts.
Vistara is also the only full-service carrier to start operations in the last 10 years. Since the merger of full-service carrier (FSC) Indian Airlines with Air India in 2007, at least five FSCs dotted the Indian skies.
As years passed by, Kingfisher and Air Sahara faded away while Vistara took flight in January 2015. Kingfisher went belly up in 2012 while Air Sahara, which was acquired by Jet Airways and renamed as JetLite, sank with Jet Airways in 2019.
AI announces management changes
Meanwhile, ahead of the merger, Air India Group last week announced a number of management changes.
Vinod Kannan, Chief Executive Officer of Vistara who has also been holding the role of Chief Integration Officer for the full-service airlines’ merger, will continue in the latter role post-merger.
He will be a member of the Management Committee and report directly to Air India CEO Campbell Wilson.
Deepak Rajawat, Chief Commercial Officer of Vistara, will take up the Chief Financial Officer role at newly-enlarged Air India Express, reporting to CEO Aloke Singh.
Announcing these transitions, Campbell Wilson, CEO and MD, Air India, said: “Over the past two years the four Tata airlines have worked hard to prepare for and execute one of the most complex mergers in aviation history, consolidating from four airlines to two in the context of dramatic growth and wholesale transformation. As we now approach the end of that process, we are delighted to formalise a Group leadership comprising colleagues from all four antecedent airlines to drive the next phase of our journey.”
“I would also like to acknowledge those who, whether retiring or taking up other roles within the Tata group, have contributed so significantly not just to the consolidation process but, over many years, to the DNA of what is now the new Air India.”
