NEW DELHI New Delhi: National carrier Air India on Wednesday said flights operated by Vistara will start using the flight code ‘AI2’ after the merger of the two airlines next month.The Tata Group-owned airline said that despite the integration on November 12, the Vistara experience “will remain the same”. The merger involves Vistara and Air India, a joint venture between the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines.
Currently, Air India uses the airline code ‘AI’ while Vistara uses ‘UK’. According to the company, the two airlines have been working hard for over a year to ensure that the merger of legal and regulated entities is seamless for both customers and employees.“While the legal entities and Air Operator Certificates will merge on November 12, the Vistara experience will remain. “Vistara aircraft, crew and service will continue to operate as before, but AI2XXX flight numbers will be bookable through airindia.com,” an Air India spokesperson said in a statement.
In parallel, Air India’s narrow-body fleet is being upgraded with the delivery of new aircraft, legacy aircraft are being refitted with completely new interiors and Vistara’s catering service is now extended to Air India as well. “We look forward to leveraging the proud heritage and best practices of both airlines as we create a new airline group that India can be proud of,” the spokesperson said.
In July this year, Air India said it had completed the work of harmonising operational processes across key functions for the four Tata group airlines as a key step towards the merger. Vistara, a joint venture between the Tata group (51 per cent) and Singapore Airlines (49 per cent), is being merged with Air India to form a single full-service carrier. At the same time, Air India’s subsidiaries, AIX Connect (formerly Air Asia) and Air India Express, have merged to form a single low-budget airline.
