Air India's Chief Executive Officer Campbell Wilson announced on Monday that the Tata Group plans to scrap Air India's brand Vistara, another airline owned by the Tata group of companies. Wilson, who was introduced aboard Air India in 2022, told Business Today that the group plans to accommodate Vistara employees in the new full-service airline resulting from the merger.
He stated that he wanted to make sure everyone in the group has a position and future while planning for the merger of Vistara with Air India.
The Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan announced earlier last year that the airline plans to add 1000 people to its 4000-strong workforce by the end of the year 2022, bringing the total headcount to 5000. The airline has a fleet of around 55 aircraft.
According to an announcement by the company in August last year, Air India's headcount is around 11,000 people. When Tata took over Air India, around 4500 people applied for voluntary retirement. Wilson said on Monday that 1600 employees were allowed to leave the company under the voluntary retirement policy.
The CEO did not allow the possibility of external hiring in the newly merged entity. He said we want to get external people in where we need them, but we also need to accommodate existing people within the group. CEO Wilson also outlined the plans for Air India's merger with Vistara at the press conference. The CEO said the airline would be a full-service airline and experts believe that the full-service airline by the Tata Group will compete with its gulf counterparts, including Etihad Airlines, Emirates Airlines, and Qatar Airline.
The intention is to have one full-service airline and one low-cost airline in the group. He said that the full-service airline will be an amalgam of Air India and Vistara.
Wilson shared the progress of the merger. He noted that the merger of Air India and Vistara is in its first phase. The next phase would be the DGCA approval of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, followed by the CCI approval of the Competition Commission of India.
The CEO stated that the Vistara brand will be scrapped. He noted that the brand has decent recognition in India, but the brand Air India has better recognition globally and would be a better fit for a full-service airline that operates globally.
The CEO said the future full-service carrier will be called Air India.
He also clarified that some of Vistara's branding will be carried onto the new full-service airline.
He said that we would like to preserve and celebrate some of the Vistara heritage in that new manifestation. Air India announced earlier this month that it would be purchasing 470 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus, and the list price of these air carriers is $70 billion. The company said they would be using a mix of internal cash flow, equity, and the sale and leaseback of aircraft to finance the deal.