Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have celebrated the successful merger of Air India and Vistara at a symbolic ceremony held at the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi, heralding a new era in their deep and longstanding partnership. Marking the dawn of a new chapter for the Indian aviation industry were Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, and Goh Choon Phong, Chief Executive Officer of Singapore Airlines, as well as senior management and employees from Tata, SIA, Air India, and Vistara.
Consolidating the four airlines within the Air India Group into one full-service and one low-cost airline is part of the ongoing, five-year Vihaan.AI transformation programme. This creates an Air India Group with a significant presence across all key segments of the Indian market – domestic, international, full-service, and low-cost operations. This will help to enhance the Group’s operational capabilities, expand its customer base, and gradually elevate service standards, product excellence, and the customer experience.
Post-merger, the Air India Group operates a combined fleet of 300 aircraft covering 55 domestic and 48 international destinations, with 312 routes and 8,300 flights per week. The airline will offer extended worldwide connectivity to over 800 destinations through more than 75 codeshare and interline partners. The collective staff strength stands at over 30,000.
Chandrasekaran, Chairman, of Tata Sons, said: “It has been a little over two and a half years since the homecoming of Air India to the Tata Group. This week’s merger between Air India and Vistara is an important milestone in our commitment to transform Air India into a world-class global airline. Singapore Airlines continues to be our strategic partner in our aviation journey and we welcome them to Air India.”
Goh, Chief Executive Officer, of Singapore Airlines, said: “This merger marks a pivotal moment for Indian aviation. Working with our valued, long-standing partner Tata Sons, the SIA Group will support the ongoing transformation of the enlarged Air India Group, offering our stewardship and expertise where possible. We are focused on helping to restore Air India to its leading position in the Indian aviation market and creating an airline Group that everyone in India can be proud of. For the SIA Group, the completion of the merger reinforces our long-standing direct participation in one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets. Singapore Airlines is committed to deepening our commercial collaboration with Air India, and finding ways to provide greater value and enhanced options to our customers on flights between India and Singapore, and beyond.”
Singapore Airlines operating results for October
The Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group’s passenger capacity increased by 9.2% in October 2024 from a year before, while passenger traffic grew by 7.4%. As a result, the Group’s passenger load factor (PLF) was 1.4 percentage points lower year-on-year at 86.0%, with SIA and Scoot posting monthly PLFs of 86.1% and 85.4% respectively. The two airlines carried a combined 3.3 million passengers during the month, up 7.0% from a year before.
Cargo loads rose 20.2% on the back of higher peak season shipments and freighter charters, outpacing the 14.3% expansion in cargo capacity. Consequently, the Group’s cargo load factor increased by 3.0 percentage points to 59.1%.
During the month, Scoot expanded the Group’s Southeast Asia network with the launch of services to Malacca, Malaysia. Services to Ningbo, China, were suspended in line with Scoot’s regular review and optimisation of its network.
At the end of October 2024, the Group’s passenger network covered 127 destinations in 36 countries and territories. SIA served 78 destinations, while Scoot served 71 destinations. The cargo network1 comprised 131 destinations in 37 countries and territories.
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