Vistara Airlines has began their plans to merge its staff into Air India, as the Tata Group combines the two airlines to build an aviation empire to take on market leader IndiGo.
Vistara Chief Executive Officer Vinod Kannan stated, “The process of integration of the staff has started,” in a conversation with the reporters on Monday in Mumbai. He expects that the regulatory clearances to be completed by April 2024.
Vistara is currently co-owned by Tata Group and Singapore Airlines and it will be folded into Air India under a deal announced in November, which will provide Tatas a leverage to compete against IndiGo. Singapore Airlines will be receiving 25% stake in exchange for $250 million investment and interest in Vistara in combined entity.
Kannan also shared that Vistara has put together a team to decide on what should be the ‘end structure’ of the integrated organisation. The airline is currently in talks with its pilots and cabin crew about the process of the merger and applying to competition authorities in Singapore.
The combined airline will be named after Air India, while Vistara will be scrapped, as shared by CEO Campbell Wilson.