Vistara expects all legal approvals for its merger with Air India in first half of 2024

New Delhi: Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan on Monday said all legal approvals for its proposed merger with Air India are expected to be in place in the first half of 2024.

In November 2022, Tata group announced the merger of Vistara with Air India under a deal wherein Singapore Airlines will also acquire a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India.

At a briefing here, Kannan said the legal approvals for the merger are expected by the middle of 2024 and the operational merger is anticipated by early or middle of next year.

He also said that all competition approvals are expected in the current quarter ending March. On September 1, 2023, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the proposed merger.

Currently, Vistara has 67 planes in its fleet. The airline is a joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines.

Meanwhile, amid the India-Maldives row, full service carrier Vistara said it will monitor the demand for flights between the two countries as the “situation is evolving right now”.

Vistara operates one flight each daily from Mumbai and Delhi to Male.

Airline’s Chief Commercial Officer Deepak Rajawat said it has not cancelled anything as of now and will monitor the demand for flights.

“The situation is very evolving right now... we will have to monitor in a week or so,” he said at a briefing in response to queries about the Maldives situation.

Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet also operate flights to the Maldives. There were no comments from the three airlines on the current situation.

India has conveyed its strong concerns to Maldives over remarks posted on social media against Prime Minister Narendra Modi by a number of ministers of that country.

The disparaging remarks by the ministers have drawn flak in India, with many celebrities urging people on X to explore domestic tourist destinations instead of going to the

Maldives.

There were also posts on social media claiming that some Indians are cancelling their scheduled trip to the Maldives in view of the row.