'TA-TA' Vistara! India's popular airline to fly for one last time on November 11

KOCHI: The merger of Tata Group's Vistara with Air India is expected to be completed by Monday night. After the merger, Singapore Airlines (SIA) will invest an additional Rs 3,194.5 crore in Tata Group-owned Air India.

The merger will see SIA acquiring a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India, in exchange for its 49 per cent shareholding in Vistara along with Rs 2,058.5 crore in cash. With this, the number of airlines under the Tata Group will come from four to two. AIX Connect (AirAsia) was merged with Air India Express last month.

Tata Group launched Vistara on January 9, 2015, in a joint venture with Singapore Airlines (SIA). The merger with Vistara was announced on November 29, 2022, after Tata acquired ownership rights of Air India from the central government. Once the Vistara merger is completed, Air India and IndiGo will own a 90 per cent market share in the Indian skies. Jet and Akasa Air have just nine per cent of the market share.

With total domination in Indian skies, many now fear the chances of the two airlines unilaterally deciding ticket prices on domestic services.

Total Airplanes

Indigo - 413

Air India, Air India Express - 300