As the two airlines go closer to merging, the aviation regulator DGCA has approved combining the Air India and Vistara aircraft line maintenance operations.
Air India stated in a release on Friday that the integration will support on-time performance by lowering aircraft turnaround times and optimising resources to improve operational performance. “With a unified maintenance team and resources, Air India will be better positioned to service a mixed fleet of wide body and narrow body aircraft, enhancing schedule integrity and reliability of operations,” it added.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has granted the two airlines, which are a part of the Tata Group, CAR (Civil Aviation Requirement) 145 certification to consolidate their aircraft line maintenance operations.
Vistara is a combined venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines. Post-merger, which was announced in November 2022, Singapore Airlines will have a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India.
Air India currently has 12 stations in the country with in-house line maintenance.
“Enhanced synergy of the combined resources will also ensure real-time availability of records of all activities for fast diagnosis and troubleshooting of technical issues by tracing and correcting of the systems involved. The combined strength will also create economies of scale in resource mobilisation and augment trained manpower to cater to various maintenance and check of the aircraft in the fleet of the Group Carriers, including Air India Express – the aircraft of which has been serviced by the Vistara team,” the release said.
(with inputs from PTI)