Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Tata Sons (Tata) have confirmed the merger of Vistara into Air India, with SIA investing Rs 20,585 million ($250 million) in the new Air India as part of the agreement.
Singapore Airlines will now have a 25.1% share in an expanded Air India group.
The target date for the merger is March 2024.
Singapore and Tata previously launched Vistara in 2013.
The merger agreement will end the Vistara brand.
With this merger agreement and a new ownership group, a new livery for Air India is very likely in 2023.
In other news, Air India has announced the strengthening and expansion of its global footprint with the launch of new flights connecting Mumbai with New York, Paris and Frankfurt, and the resumption of nonstop flights connecting Delhi with Copenhagen, Milan and Vienna.
This expansion comes as the airline continues to make progress in augmenting its fleet with newly- leased aircraft, and the return of existing aircraft to active service.
The new Mumbai-New York service will operate daily to John F Kennedy International Airport using Boeing 777-200LR aircraft, and will commence on February 14, 2023. It will complement Air India’s existing daily service from Delhi to New York area’s John F Kennedy International Airport and 4 weekly flights to Newark Liberty Airport. This takes Air India’s India-US frequency to 47 nonstop flights per week.
Above Copyright Photo: Air India Boeing 777-237 LR VT-ALE (msn 36304) PAE (Nick Dean). Image: 905947.
To Europe, Air India will add four weekly Delhi-Milan v.v. route starting from February 1, 2023, and thrice-weekly flights on each of Delhi-Vienna v.v. and Delhi-Copenhagen v.v., commencing from February 18 and March 1, 2023 respectively. From Mumbai, new flights are also planned to Paris* (3 weekly) and Frankfurt* (4 weekly) starting next quarter. All these flights will be operated by Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners.
In other news, Vistara, a joint venture of Tata group and Singapore Airlines, has announced nonstop flights between Mumbai and Muscat, the capital of Oman, starting on December 12, 2022. The airline will operate daily flights between the two cities using its Airbus A320neo aircraft.
Schedule of flights to/from Muscat, Oman effective 12 December 2022:
|
Flight No.
|
Days of Operation
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mumbai – Muscat | UK 0233 | Daily | 20:00 Hrs | 21:35 Hrs |
| Muscat – Mumbai | UK 0234 | Daily | 22:55 Hrs | 3:10 Hrs (+1) |
* All timings shown are in local time zones
*+1 indicates next day arrival
Top Copyright Photo: Vistara Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner VT-TSD (msn 66526) LHR (Richard Vandervord). Image: 952527.
Vistara aircraft photo gallery:
Air India aircraft photo gallery:
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- Source: https://worldairlinenews.com/2022/11/29/singapore-airlines-and-tata-sons-to-merge-vistara-into-air-india-by-march-2024/
