Vistara bids adieu with last flight to Singapore; integrated Air India takes to the skies

After operating for nearly 10 years, full service carrier Vistara flew into the sunset on Tuesday early morning operating its last flight from the national capital to Singapore.

Vistara -- a joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines -- has now merged with Air India, creating an enlarged entity that is now the country's largest international carrier and second-largest domestic carrier.

UK115 flight from Delhi to Singapore was the last flight of Vistara with the code 'UK' while UK986 from Mumbai to Delhi was the carrier's last domestic flight.

Starting a new chapter in India's fast-growing civil aviation space, the merged entity operated its first flight with the code 'AI2286' from Doha to Mumbai.

In the domestic sector, the integrated entity's first flight AI2984 took off from Mumbai to Delhi. All the four flights landed at their respective destinations early in the morning on Tuesday, according to information available on the flight tracking website Flightradar24.com.

According to an official, the two airlines have been merged, passengers are being issued Air India boarding passes and check-in counters of Vistara at airports have become that of Air India.

The code 'AI2XXX' is being used for Vistara flights that are being operated by Air India post the merger to help passengers identify the Vistara flight at the time of booking.

On Monday, an official said the integrated entity will be operating services on 103 domestic and 71 international routes. With the merger, first announced in November 2022, Singapore Airlines will have a 25.1% stake in the integrated entity, which will operate more than 5,500 weekly flights on local and international routes.

A formal announcement about the merger is expected later in the day. Tata Group has led the consolidation wave in Indian aviation with two major mergers in less than two months -- AIX Connect was integrated with Air India Express on October 1 and now the merger of Vistara with Air India.

Air India, Vistara and AIX Connect together had a domestic market share of little over 29% in September, as per latest official data. Together, the Air India group has an operational fleet of 298 aircraft -- around 208 with Air India and about 90 with Air India Express.