Air India to absorb all employees of Vistara, says Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan

Over 5000 employees of Vistara will find new roles with the Tata-owned Air India, as a part of the merger plan of both the airlines. Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan said that the employees of Vistara will be completely absorbed by Air India after the merger.

"There will be opportunities for everyone in the bigger unit. All of them will be absorbed in the new combined entity," Kannan said. His statement came during an interview at the CAPA Aviation Summit.

Vistara CEO highlighted that Vistara has about 5,103 employees, and around 80 percent are operational staff. It includes pilots, flight attendants, and engineers.

All personnel will undergo a transition as Vistara's aircraft eventually merge with Air India's fleet. The employees might see some designation changes after the merger. But he also added that these employees will also get new opportunities and will get to be a part of an airline that is three times bigger in scale, Kannan said.

He said that the operational staff will be transferred with the aircraft and the support staff will find a place in Air India as the airline, in its earlier avatar, as a government-run carrier, did not hire for several departments in the past 15 years.

After acquiring Air India, the Tata group plans to merge low-cost carriers AirAsia India with Air India Express and Vistara with Air India.

On 29 November, Singapore Airlines and Tata Group announced a merger between Air India and Vistara. Singapore Airlines is investing $250 million in Air India as part of the deal, giving it a 25.1 percent stake in the group, with the rest owned by the Tata Group. Both companies aim to complete the merger by March 2024.

Air India is India’s largest international carrier and second largest domestic carrier. The merger will make it the only carrier in the country with both full-service and low-cost passenger services. Air India and Vistara have 218 aircraft serving 38 international and 52 domestic routes.