Vistara-Air India Merger: Best Practices, Livery, & Future

New Delhi, Oct 16 (PTI) The merger of Vistara and Air India will create an integrated entity that will share the best practices of the two airlines and the livery of Vistara will stay for sometime, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, is set to merge with Air India on November 11 as part of the Tatas consolidating their airline business. Air India Express completed the merger of AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, with itself this month.

While emphasising the importance of empowering frontline staff, Vistara Chairman Bhaskar Bhat said it will be ensured that passengers keep getting better and better services from the merged entity.

"The merged entity will be one integrated entity. How does it translate... through SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures). It will become a single SOP as it becomes one brand... (there will be) sharing of best practices," he said.

Stressing on the idea of driving differentiation across areas, Bhat said that "experience" of passengers is what needs to be differentiated and added that premiumisation is driven by consumers wanting a better quality and better experience.

According to him, it will be difficult now to mention about a timeline on how long Vistara brand will be there after the merger and the Vistara livery will continue for sometime.

There is a practical problem of repainting the planes. If aircraft is taken away, there will be loss of revenues and replacement of aircraft is also taking time. "We are dealing with multiple challenges...," he noted.

He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Indian Foundation for Quality Management (IFQM) Symposium in the national capital.

Vistara is well appreciated for its services. There are concerns in certain quarters on whether Vistara passengers will continue to get the same services like now, post merger as Air India, which is in the transformation phase, has been facing certain service issues in recent times.

On October 2, an Air India spokesperson said the teams of Air India and Vistara have been working hard for over a year to ensure that the merger of the legal and regulated entities is seamless for both customers and staff.

"Though the legal entities and Air Operator Certificates will become one on 12 November, the Vistara experience will remain.

"Vistara aircraft, crew and service will continue to operate as before, but with AI2XXX flight numbers bookable via airindia.com," the spokesperson had said in a statement to PTI.

Air India's airline code is 'AI' and that of Vistara is 'UK'. The latter will fly into the sunset after the merger.

The Air India-Vistara merger, announced in November 2022, will also see Singapore Airlines acquiring a 25.1 per cent stake in the merged entity.