Vistara, now co-owned by Tata Group and Singapore Airlines Ltd., will be folded into Air India under a deal announced in November, giving the Tatas more heft to go up against dominant budget carrier IndiGo.
Credit: PTI Photo
Singapore Airlines on Tuesday said it aims to complete the merger of Vistara with Air India 'as soon as possible' subject to remaining approvals from relevant authorities.
Once the proposed merger, which was approved by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on September 1, is complete, Singapore Airlines will have a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India.
Vistara is a joint venture in which Singapore Airlines has a 49 per cent stake, while the rest is with the Tatas.
Singapore Airlines and Air India have given certain commitments to the CCI to address the competition concerns arising out of the merger.
In a statement on Tuesday, Singapore Airlines welcomed the CCI's approval of the merger and said the airline as well as Scoot will follow the commitments.
Scoot is a part of the Singapore Airlines group.
"Singapore Airlines continues to work with our partner Tata Sons and aims to complete the merger as soon as possible, subject to the remaining approvals from the relevant authorities," an airline spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement.
Air India and Singapore Airlines have committed to maintain minimum capacity/ supply level in relation to certain overlapping O&D (Origin & Destination) pairs between India and Singapore -- Delhi-Singapore, Mumbai-Singapore, Tiruchirappalli-Singapore and Chennai-Singapore, as per the CCI order.
According to the statement, Singapore Airlines files '14 times weekly/twice daily' on the Delhi-Singapore route and flies 16 times weekly on the Mumbai-Singapore route.
On the Chennai-Singapore route, Singapore Airlines flies 17 times weekly and Scoot operates flights 14 times weekly/twice daily on the Tiruchirappalli-Singapore route.
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