This past week we saw Vistara, the beloved Indian airline, be officially consumed by Air India. The move, while expected, is both a happy and sad moment for many Indian travelers.
Vistara was first started as a joint venture between the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines as a new full-service carrier in India to challenge Air India and Jet Airways in 2015. After the bankruptcy of Jet Airways a couple of years after. it was just Air India and Vistara left as full-service carriers in the country.
The two airlines competed fiercely in the coming years with Vistara bringing on new aircraft with globally competitive business class products and flying many of the same routes as Air India. Passengers largely enjoyed the modern and elegant experience with Vistara and the airline really embodied their slogan: Fly The New Feeling.
For many, including myself, the Vistara brand brought excitement to Indian aviation. This rang especially true after the bankruptcy of Jet Airways. Vistara filled that premium carrier space in India that Air India couldn’t.
Air India had just become a shell of its former shelf, a basket case airline that some actively avoided. This is why Vistara was the only real hope for premium service from an Indian carrier that could play on a global scale.
Then it became known that the Tata Group was going to be the likely suitor in the Indian government’s attempt to privatize Air India. The big question in everyone’s minds was what will happen to Vistara?
Vistara and Air India Merger
Most assumed that it would be enveloped into Air India at some point since it didn’t seem likely that the Tata Group would want to operate two separate airlines. That is exactly what ended up happening.
In January 2024, it was announced that all regulatory clearance for the merger with Air India would be wrapped up by the middle of the year and operations would merge by the middle of the next year. Things ended up happening faster than expected with Vistara announcing that it would stop accepting new bookings the first week of September 2024 and officially merge with Air India on Nov. 12, 2024.
The merger came and went as expected. While there are still Vistara-branded aircraft flying around and some Vistara signage still lingering, both airlines are operating under a single operator certificate. While there are some challenges passengers and employees of the combined entity are facing, they are about what one would expect with an airline merger. It will take some time for the issues to be sorted out.
Vistara was an excellent airline run by Tata before they acquired Air India and many are hoping that the combined entity will continue to exemplify the excellence of the Tata Group as it seeks to bring Air India up through the ranks as a global premium airline.
I’ve flown on both Vistara and Air India across my travels in India. Vistara was a pleasure to fly and I’m looking forward to a refreshed Air India with many of the touches from Vistara carried over. There are a lot of airlines that I’ve flown on that don’t exist anymore, but Vistara will be one of the few that I will always remember fondly.
