Air India and Vistara are set to merge on November 12.
From this date onward, operations will continue under the Air India brand. Flights operated with former Vistara aircraft will be assigned flight numbers starting with ‘2’.
Both domestic and international airports will have customer support staff wearing the brands’ t-shirts to assist passengers. Vistara brand ticket offices and check-in counters will be gradually changed to the Air India brand. Calls to the call center will automatically be transferred to Air India.
Following the merger, Air India will offer connectivity to over 800 cities in more than 90 countries through codeshare and interline partners.
Ahead of this merger, the integration of Air India Express and AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India) was completed on October 1. This completes the consolidation from four companies – a full-service carrier and a low-cost carrier (LCC) – into two.
Post-merger, Vistara’s CEO Vinod Kannan will continue his role directly under Air India’s CEO Campbell Wilson as the Chief Integration Officer. Deepak Rajawat, the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), will become the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Air India Express. Hamish Maxwell, the Vice President of Operational Operations, will become an adviser to the CEO of Air India Express, while Deepa Chadha, Vice President of Human Resources & Corporate Affairs, and Vinod Bhat, the Chief Information Officer, will assume senior positions within the Tata Group companies.
Vikas Agarwal, CFO of Air India Express, will be given a new role at Air India. Pushpinder Singh, the Chief Operating Officer of Air India Express, will return to operational duties.
