Goodbye to Vistara, hello to a new Air India
November 12, 2024
From 12 November 2024, all Vistara flights will be operated under the Air India-brand, with the premium carrier flying its final flights on 11 November 2024.
Vistara was established in 2014 as a joint-venture between India’s Tata Group (51%) and Singapore Airlines (49%). Vistara launched operations in January 2015, and eventually operated a fleet of seventy aircraft. In January 2022, the Tata Group acquired Air India, and later that year revealed that it planned to merge all of its airline interests under the Air India-brand, resulting in an expanded network with a combined fleet of 300 aircraft. (This included merging its share of AirAsia India with Air India Express). Both airlines were making losses though these have been progressively reducing, and Tata hopes that the newly combined airline might be better able to compete with Indigo, currently the market leader.
All Vistara operations are being transferred to Air India which will manage all help desks and ticketing offices, and will manage the transfer of passengers with existing Vistara bookings and loyalty programmes to Air India.
Vistara was a full-service carrier that had a reputation for its high passenger satisfaction ratings in service standards, cabin quality and even food, rapidly building a loyal customer base. Air India’s reputation has been less impressive, with reports of poor service standards, broken seats and inflight entertainment systems.
Vistara’s superior product offering represented a gold standard for Indian airlines, and many believe that Air India will struggle to match the standards set by Vistara, though meals, service ware and other soft elements are being upgraded to incorporate aspects of both Vistara and Air India, and Tata has promised that the Vistara in-flight experience will remain constant. This will require a complex learning (and ‘unlearning’) process in order to navigate and change what will initially be a mix of service and cabin formats, and branding.
Air India enjoys strong global recognition and a high profile Indian identity, and some believe that the relatively new Vistara brand has been jettisoned to avoid any distraction from Air India’s ongoing five-year transformation roadmap.
Air India is navigating through a major transformation under the auspices of the Vihaan.AI project, with the ambition of transforming itself into a world class airline with an Indian heart. The first phase of this transformation, the so-called ‘taxi phase’ focused on fixing the basics and has now been concluded. Long grounded aircraft have been returned to service, recruitment of new staff is underway, technology is being upgraded and customer care initiatives are being implemented.
Air India’s transformation saw the unveiling of a new brand identity and new aircraft livery in August 2023.
Air India says that: “The new look reimagines the iconic Indian window shape, historically used by Air India, into a gold window frame that becomes central to the new brand design system – symbolising a ‘Window of Possibilities’. Air India’s new logo symbol – ‘The Vista’ – is inspired by the peak of the gold window frame, signifying limitless possibilities, progressiveness, and the airline’s bold, confident outlook for the future. Air India’s brand-new aircraft livery and design features a palette of deep red, aubergine, and gold highlights, as well as a chakra-inspired pattern. It also boasts a striking new custom-made ‘Air India Sans’ font, marrying confidence with warmth to position Air India as premium, inclusive, and accessible.”
Air India has launched a three-year, US $400m programme to upgrade and retrofit the interiors of the 43 older widebody aircraft in the fleet. These will receive brand-new seats in every cabin, new inflight entertainment systems, and inflight Wi-Fi internet connectivity. The airline is also undertaking an ambitious acquisition programme for some 470 new aircraft.
The new logo made its service debut in December 2023, when Air India’s first Airbus A350 entered the fleet, wearing the new livery.
Air India is building brand new lounges at Delhi and New York JFK airports, having recently announced a global lounge network expansion, aiming to achieve 100% lounge access for premium customers at all destinations in its international route network.
Air India has launched a new website and mobile app, offering a significantly improved web experience with new digital tools and features, and has also opened a new 24/7 customer contact centre operating in nine Indian and foreign languages. There is also a completely redesigned loyalty programme.
The merger of the two airlines has hit some problems – including a significant pilot shortage, and a real concern among former Vistara crew about plans to align their salaries with Air India’s salary structure, and a distaste for Air India’s somewhat bloated bureaucracy. The impact of this will be minimised by the influx of more than 5,000 new staff, including nearly 1,000 aircrew and 3,200 cabin crew and who will help to drive Air India’s cultural transformation.
