The last hurdle for Vistara’s merger into Air India has been surpassed, with clearance for FDI for Singapore Airlines to have a 25.1% stake in Air India, which will also be the parent of Air India Express. This has paved the way for the merger of Vistara into Air India and AIX Connect (erstwhile AirAsia India) into Air India Express, which is a fully owned subsidiary of Air India. This also takes away Talace out of the picture. Talace Pvt. Ltd was an entity formed by Tata Sons to bid for Air India.
Vistara will thus cease to exist from November 12, 2024 and will stop all bookings for flights beyond November 11, 2024 starting next week (Sept 03). This would definitely cause anxiety to a lot of passengers who have either booked flights with Vistara or have plans of booking for the busy December period. In an industry, where the cutoffs generally align with the IATA seasons, Vistara and Air India are planning this after the peak Diwali season.
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The airline started communication with passengers as well as employees after the last formality was in place. The social media handles informed about the upcoming change and emails with information about the shift started going out in batches to loyalty members and passengers. If you are a frequent flyer of Vistara and are wondering what happens to your bookings and loyalty points, here are seven things you should know.
Is Vistara shutting down? No, it isn’t. Vistara is merging with Air India, but it will cease to exist as Vistara. The planes, employees, routes, just about everything will be part of Air India. However, since repairing the aircraft overnight is not possible, the airlines will continue to sport the livery until the changes are done. The IATA code “UK” will be withdrawn from operations.
Last flight on November 11
Vistara will operate its last flight on November 11, 2024. The transfer of planes and human resources will begin even before that and the last of the flights will operate on November 11, before a full shiftover and retirement of Vistara brand, IATA code and operations.
What if I have to book my flights with Vistara beyond November 12?
Vistara network and flights will continue albeit with Air India flight number and “AI” prefix. The sale of such flights will move to the Air India website from September 03 onwards. The crew of Vistara will operate the Vistara planes, even under Air India till early 2025. However, the service levels, meals, et al will be as per Air India policy.
What happens to the loyalty members?
Vistara has already initiated a merger of the Loyalty program with Air India’s loyalty program – “Flying Returns”. Loyalty members are urged to sign up for the merger of the accounts where in, a one to one transfer of points will be done from Vistara’s loyalty program “Club Vistara” to Flying Returns.
What if my flight is already booked?
Passengers who are already booked will not be impacted. Those flying Vistara between now and November 12, may see a change in flight details which the airline will communicate. For those flying beyond November 12, there definitely will be a change and the airline will communicate it. As a passenger, one must ensure that the contact details are updated with the airline to ensure timely dissemination of information.
Will there be an impact on service if I am booked on Vistara but the flight operates as Air India?
As of now, the airlines have maintained that in almost all cases the flights which are currently operating as Vistara would continue to operate with the same planes and crew until early 2025. However, as a unified entity this could change at any time due to exigencies, groundings or scheduled removal of planes for checks and rebranding. This could cause issues in case of passengers booked in Premium Economy, since only a handful of Air India aircraft have Premium Economy service unlike Vistara, where all but 10 planes offer this class of service.
Where can I experience Vistara one last time?
Over the last few years, Vistara has created its own fan base. One could experience the Vistara flight on its network until November 11. It will be advisable to do this at the soonest since the switchover to Air India is not overnight but gradual leading up to November 11 and sectors, aircraft and crew will slowly start moving. A gap between date of booking and operation could mean a change of service to Air India, though the aircraft and crew would well be Vistara.