Air India says Vistara in-flight experience to continue post-merger

The merger is scheduled to be completed on November 12, following which Singapore Airlines will have a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India

New Delhi: Air India on Friday said Vistara routes and schedule as well as the in-flight experience will continue and the flights operated with Vistara planes will have the code ‘AI2’ post-merger.

The merger of the two full service carriers is scheduled to be completed on November 12, following which Singapore Airlines will have a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India.

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Vistara is a joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines. Post the merger, the vintage ‘Maharaja’ will be retained through the frequent flyer programme of the integrated entity.

“The existing members of Club Vistara will be seamlessly transferred to Air India’s Flying Returns program. With this merger, Flying Returns will also evolve into an all-new avatar ‘Maharaja Club’,” Air India said in the statement.

Reiterating that the experience offered by Vistara will continue for customers post-merger, Air India said Vistara will be identified by a special four-digit Air India code beginning with the digit ‘2’.

“For instance, UK 955 will become AI 2955 helping customers identify them while booking… after November 12,” the statement said. Further, it said the routes and schedule operated by Vistara aircraft will continue to be the same, alongside the airline’s in-flight experience that includes the product and service such as menu and cutlery on the Vistara aircraft.

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

Air India, on October 2, also said that Vistara experience will remain post-merger. On Wednesday, Vistara Chairman Bhaskar Bhat said the integrated entity will share the best practices of the two airlines and the livery of Vistara will stay for sometime.

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.