Starting November 12, Vistara customers will not be able to make bookings with the airline. This comes after Singapore Airlines got a formal approval from the Indian government for Foreign Direct Investment in Air India.
In a statement, the airline said, “We received formal approval for Singapore Airlines’ Foreign Direct Investment in the future Air India. This paves the way for us to now commence the remaining steps to merge Vistara and Air India, and is a critical milestone on our Vihaan.AI journey to create a world class, global airline with an Indian heart.”
As per the airline, starting September 3, all those trying to book Vistara flights for travel on or after November 12, will progressively be redirected to Air India’s site to complete the booking.
However, Vistara will continue to take bookings and operate flights as usual till November 11.
All customers who are already booked on Vistara flights for travel on or after November 12 will have their reservations converted to Air India flight numbers automatically. “This will occur in phases during September, and customers will be individually informed when this occurs,” the airline added.
“For Vistara flights on or after 12th November 2024, the flight numbers will change to Air India ones, even though in nearly all cases the aircraft, schedule and operating crew will be unchanged until early 2025.”
Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan said that both the airlines are “ committed to ensuring that this transition is smooth and hassle-free”.
“Cross-functional teams from Air India and Vistara have been working together for many months to make the transition of aircraft, flying crew, ground-based colleagues and, most importantly, our valued customers, into the new Air India as seamless as possible,” Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said.