The merger of Tata Group’s full service airline Vistara with Air India may be completed by mid-2025. All the legal approvals required for this merger will be received by the middle of this year. Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan calls it ‘merger for growth’.
‘All legal approvals will be received by mid-2024’
Kannan says he will consider taking the airline’s customer-centric services, best practices and employees into the merged entity. Kannan said legal approval for the merger is expected by mid-2024, and the merger is expected to take place by the beginning or middle of next year. He also said that all competition approvals are expected to be received in the current quarter ending in March.
In November 2022, Tata Group announced the merger of Vistara with Air India under a deal in which Singapore Airlines will also get a 25.1% stake in Air India.
Vistara, an airline formed through a joint venture between Tata and Singapore Airlines, has a fleet of 67 aircraft and operates 320 flights daily. Vistara is expected to get three more aircraft including Boeing 787 by April this year and this will increase its fleet size to 70.
Vistara completed 9 years on 9th January
The airline, which completes its nine years on January 9, is performing better financially than last year, CEO Kannan said in a briefing. We have reached ‘break even’ in the last quarter of last year (2022-23), from October 2022 to July 2023, we were in loss, but then like most airlines, July, August, September and October were the weakest months , and we suffered some losses there, December has been a great one.
We have matured with time: CEO
On September 1, 2023, the Competition Commission of India approved the proposed merger. At the end of 2023, about 35% of Vistara’s flights were on international routes and the remaining 65% were on domestic routes. There were 16% more flights from December 2022 to December 2023. This is about departures,’ Kannan said and added that the airline will not operate flights to the US, and will focus on Europe and South East Asia.
Kannan said that ‘We have matured with time; Trying to ensure that the customer is at the center of everything. We hope that with time we will be able to take it to Air India also.
Regarding the merger process, Vistara CEO Kannan said, ‘We want to ensure that everyone has a role in Vistara (in the merged unit). This is not a merger for cost cutting or efficiency, this is a merger for growth. He said that no additional funds are required from shareholders and the airline is able to manage its own cash flow.
