First Air India-Vistara flight takes off from Doha to Mumbai after merger

The integrated Air India-Vistara entity took its first flight from Doha to Mumbai on Monday night. After Vistara wrapped up its last day of flight operations, the news agency PTI reported.

The flight – ‘AI2286’ – departed Doha at around 10.07 pm local time and is expected to land in Mumbai early on Tuesday morning.

The flight will not only be the first flight, but also the first international operation conducted by the entity. The duration of the flight is nearly three hours.

On the domestic front, their first scheduled flight AI2984 took off from Mumbai to Delhi at around 1.30 am on Tuesday morning. It is being oper ated with an A320 plane.

The code ‘AI2XXX’ is being used for all Vistara flights operated by Air India post-merger to help passengers identify the flight when booking.

Vistara’s integration with Air India, both part of Tata Group, marks a major consolidation in the country’s civil aviation space.

Vistara is a joint venture between the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines. Post-merger, Singapore Airlines will have a 25.1 per cent stake in the Air India-Vistara joint entity.

The two airlines announced in November 2022 that from September 2024, customers would gradually lose the ability to book flights with Vistara for travel dates from 12 November 2024 onward.

“Cross-functional teams from Air India and Vistara have been working together for many months to make the transition of aircraft, flying crew, ground-based colleagues and, most importantly, our valued customers, into the new Air India as seamless as possible,” Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson had said earlier.