Air India And Vistara Airlines Enter Interline Partnership

Air India, one of India’s leading airlines and a Star Alliance member, has entered an interline partnership with full-service carrier, Vistara (a joint venture of Tata and Singapore Airlines).

The partnership enables Air India’s guests to travel seamlessly on Vistara’s route network to and from over 80 points across Air India’s extensive domestic and global network.

The scope of the agreement between the two airlines includes Inter Airline Through Check-in (IATCI) implementation, which enables guests to receive their boarding passes at the first point of departure for all the travel sectors on a single ticket, and have their baggage checked-in through to their final destinations. Air India and Vistara operate at the same terminals at most major airports in India, adding to the ease of the on-ground travel experience for guests with interline itineraries.

Air India and Vistara have also implemented ‘Interline Considerations on Irregular Operations (IROPs)’ or the ‘disruption transfer’ functionality. This enables the two airlines to seamlessly transfer passengers to one another’s first available alternative flights in case of operational disruptions such as delays, cancellations, diversions, etc. and minimise any inconvenience to their guests.

Campbell Wilson, CEO & MD, Air India, said: “We are pleased at our interline partnership with Vistara, which will provide greater connectivity and convenience to our joint customers travelling within and outside of India on both our expanding route networks. Our common commitment to excellence in safety and customer service lies at the forefront of this partnership. We look forward to serving Vistara’s customers with additional travel choices to Air India destinations across the Americas, Europe, Far East, Australia, and the Middle East.”

Vinod Kannan, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara, said, "This partnership brings together two leading airlines in India to offer greater convenience and enhanced connectivity to customers traveling across our joint network. This is reflective of our deep-rooted commitment to offering our customers the finest and the most convenient way to fly across the world. We are delighted to further strengthen our relationship with Air India and connecting our customers to new destinations in their wide network."

Air India’s interline partnership with Vistara comes in addition to over 100 interline agreements and close to 50 through check-in agreements it has with partner airlines globally, such as Lufthansa, United Airlines, Air Canada, and Singapore Airlines, among others.

Recently, Air India announced having entered the ‘take off’ phase in ‘Vihaan.AI’ (Air India’s 5-year transformation plan), which is focused on developing the platforms, processes, and systems needed to build toward excellence.

About Air India:

Founded by the legendary JRD Tata, Air India pioneered India’s aviation sector. Since its first flight on October 15, 1932, Air India has an extensive domestic network and has spread its wings beyond to become a major international airline with a network across USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Far-East, South-East Asia, Australia, and the Gulf. Air India is a member of Star Alliance, the largest global airline consortium. After 69 years as a government-owned enterprise, Air India and Air India Express were welcomed back into the Tata group in January 2022. The present management at Air India is driving the five-year transformation roadmap under the aegis of Vihaan.AI to establish itself as a world-class global airline with an Indian heart.

Vihaan.AI is Air India’s transformational roadmap over five years with clear milestones. It will be focusing on dramatically growing both its network and fleet, developing a completely revamped customer proposition, improving reliability and on-time performance. The airline will also be taking a leadership position in technology, sustainability, and innovation, while aggressively investing in the best industry talent. Vihaan.AI is aimed at putting Air India on a path to sustained growth, profitability and market leadership.

About the Tata Group:

Founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868, the Tata Group is a global enterprise, headquartered in India, comprising 30 companies across ten verticals. The Group operates in more than 100 countries across six continents, with a mission 'To improve the quality of life of the communities we serve globally, through long-term stakeholder value creation based on Leadership with Trust’.

Tata Sons is the principal investment holding company and promoter of Tata companies. Sixty-six percent of the equity share capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts, which support education, health, livelihood generation and art and culture. In 2021-22, the revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was $128 billion (INR 9.6 trillion). These companies collectively employ over 935,000 people. Each Tata company or enterprise operates independently under the guidance and supervision of its own Board of Directors. There are 29 publicly-listed Tata enterprises with a combined market capitalisation of $311 billion (INR 23.6 trillion) as on March 31, 2022.

Companies include Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, Tata Consumer Products, Titan, Tata Capital, Tata Power, Indian Hotels, Tata Communications, Tata Digital, and Tata Electronics.