Air India-Vistara Merger Needs To Go Through Regulatory Approval Process: Campbell Wilson

Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said that the intention of integration is to finally get one full-service airline and one low-cost airline in the group

Campbell Wilson, chief executive officer (CEO) of Tata Group-owned Air India, has said that the integration of Air India and Vistara needs to go through a regulatory approval process, as reported by news agency ANI.

According to the report, the CEO talked about the proposed merger between Air India and Vistara.

He said that there are three steps to the integration process. The first is getting clearance from the Competition Commission of India (CCI), second is the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) perspective, and the third is the final merger between the two companies.

Campbell said that the intention of integration is to finally get one full-service airline and one low-cost airline in the group.

Meanwhile, a deal between Singapore Airlines and Tata Sons will inject a further SGD 360 million ($267 million) into Air India. It will give SIA a 25.1 per cent stake in the enlarged Air India group following its takeover by Tata and merger with Vistara Airlines.

The November 2022 deal between Singapore Airlines and Tata Sons to further inject $267 million into Air India is one of the key strategic initiatives for future growth mentioned in the quarterly financial report. This agreement is still subject to regulatory approval.

In a statement SIA said, "The merged entity will be four to five times larger in scale compared to Vistara, with a strong presence in all key airline segments in India. The proposed merger will bolster SIA's presence in India, strengthen its multi-hub strategy, and allow it to continue participating directly in this large and fast-growing aviation market."

The airline further said, "Deeper collaboration with like-minded airlines is an integral part of the SIA Group's partnerships strategy. This enables SIA and its partners to drive more traffic to their hubs, offer more options to customers, and increase the Group's global footprint."

Last week, SIA announced that net profit for Q3 which ended in December, came in at Singapore dollar (SGD) 628 million ($465 million) and financial year-to-date profits touched SGD 1,555 million ($1,152 million). They are the highest the airline has ever earned in a quarter as well as for the first nine months of a financial year.

The airline said that this is due to "the robust demand for air travel continuing into the third quarter of FY22-23, building on the momentum that began after Singapore relaxed its border restrictions in April 2022." SIA financial year starts in April.