Vistara to take its last flight soon, brand to be nixed after merger, says Campbell Wilson

Air India, or “Maharaja”, landed back in the hands of its founders, the Tata group, in January last year.

Following the merger of Air India and Vistara into one-full service carrier, the merged entity will be known as Air India, which is much more recognized outside the country, the airline's chief executive officer Campbell Wilson said on February 27.

He added that the process of integration of Vistara with Air India is underway and is now awaiting approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI).

While the resultant full-service carrier will be known as Air India, Wilson emphasised that efforts will be made to retain some of the "Vistara heritage in that new manifestation".

"The intention is to have one full-service airline and one low-cost airline in the group. The full-service airline will be an amalgam of Air India and Vistara," Wilson said.

Campbell also said there is a desire to carry forward the heritage of both Air India and Vistara, and work is going through on the form.

"Vistara has a very strong recognition in the Indian market but if you look outside the Indian market, clearly Air India is much more recognised and has a 90-year history... the future full-service carrier will be called Air India but we would like to retain and celebrate some of the Vistara heritage in that new manifestation," Wilson said.

Addressing the media virtually, Wilson added that Air India's recent firm order for 470 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing Co will be at a list price of $70 billion,

He said that Air India would fund its aircraft expansion through a combination of various sources and said that at the moment there is no timeline under which the company will have to exercise its option to buy more planes.

Air India has the option to purchase another 370 planes from the likes of Airbus and Boeing, as part of its firm order for 470 planes.

Wilson added that Air India has "enormous" potential and efforts are being done to make the group a significant international player.

The Air India CEO added that the airline is in the process of establishing a significantly large training for pilots and cabin crew in the country. He added that Air India is hiring around 500 cabin crew, pilots every month to increase their services.

Air India last week said that it will hire over 4,200 cabin crew and 900 pilots over the next three years.

Air India in the short term will hire pilots and cabin crew from abroad to meet the demand of increasing flight operations.

Wilson also said that Air India is working on refurbishing its wide-body aircraft and has invested $ 400 million for the same.

He added that the first refurbished wide-body aircraft of Air India is likely to come into service by June-July 2024.

Since taking over the loss-making Air India in January last year, Tata Group has been working on transforming the airline group and has announced that Vistara will be merged with itself, while AIX Connect, earlier known as AirAsia India, is getting integrated with Air India Express.

The Tata Group took over Air India in January last year.