The merger deal between Air India and Vistara was signed in November 2022. Under this, the last flight of India’s third largest airline Vistara will fly today i.e. on November 11. From November 12, all Vistara flights will be operated by Air India.
Flight Merger News: India’s third largest airline Vistara will fly its last flight today i.e. on 11 November. From 12 November, all Vistara flights will be operated by Air India. Ticket booking for this will also be done from Air India’s website. Now Air India will be the only Indian airline group to operate both full-service and low-cost passenger service. With this merger, the number of full-service carriers in the Indian aviation sector will decrease from five to one in a period of just 17 years.
As the years passed, Kingfisher and Air Sahara faded away. Vistara took off in January 2015. Kingfisher went into losses in 2012, while Air Sahara, which was acquired by Jet Airways and renamed Jetlite, sank along with Jet Airways in 2019.
When was the merger deal done
The merger deal between Air India and Vistara was signed in November 2022. It was approved by the Indian regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) in September 2023. After this merger, Air India Group has become the second largest domestic airline and the largest international airline in the country after Indigo in terms of market share.
Air India (including Air India Express and Air Asia India) and Vistara have a total of 218 widebody and narrowbody aircraft. They provide service to 38 international and 52 domestic destinations.
After this merger, Singapore Airlines will also make an additional investment of Rs 3,194.5 crore in Air India. The company gave this information in the exchange filing. After the merger, Singapore Airlines’ stake in Air India will be 25.1%. For this, the company has a direct investment of $ 250 million (about Rs 2,096 crore). At the same time, Tata Group will have 74.9% stake in the new venture. Before the deal, Tata Sons had 51% stake in Vistara and Singapore Airlines had 49% stake.
Migration of Club Vistara
Detailed information about the migration of Club Vistara was given on Vistara’s website. On the portal, the company said, “We had earlier informed our members about the process to opt-out of this migration. If you have authorised us to migrate your Club Vistara account data to Air India’s Reimagined Flying Returns programme by not opting out within 21 days of receiving the message, the following steps can be completed to link the two accounts to ensure a smooth transition.
Process to link accounts
Step 1: Login to your Club Vistara account.
Step 2: Under “My Account”, click on “Link Accounts”
Step 3: Enter your 9 digit Flying Returns Membership ID and submit.
What to do after submission
For accounts where the five details given below match exactly, the Flying Returns ID will be accepted. On successful submission, you will receive a confirmation and an email acknowledgement.
- First Name
- Last Name
- Date of Birth
Phone Number (not applicable for minor accounts)
For accounts where the Club Vistara account details do not match the above details in the Flying Returns account, a prompt will ask you to update the specific fields in either of the two programs. You can follow the standard “Change/Edit Profile Information” process with either program to ensure that the key details match. Once updated, you can link the accounts.
What to do after submission
For accounts where the five details given below match exactly, the Flying Returns ID will be accepted. On successful submission, you will receive a confirmation and an email acknowledgement.
- First Name
- Last Name
- Date of Birth
Phone Number (not applicable for minor accounts)
For accounts where the Club Vistara account details do not match the above details in the Flying Returns account, a prompt will ask you to update the specific fields in either of the two programs. You can follow the standard “Change/Edit Profile Information” process with either program to ensure that the key details match. Once updated, you can link the accounts.