New Delhi
Vistara Airlines is now completely defunct. Its aircraft are flying from the fleet of Air India. Vistara was a full service carrier airline, which has merged with Air India. Many full service carrier airlines have gone bust in the last few years. Now only Air India is left.
Full service carrier airlines are disappearing at the same speed with which the aviation sector is growing in the country. In the last 17 years, 4 such airlines have closed down. These include Sahara Airlines, Jet Airways, Kingfisher and now Vistara. Full service carrier airlines mean those airlines in which passengers are provided with food facilities. These do not include low budget airlines like Indigo.
Singapore Airlines stake in Air India
Singapore Airlines had 49 percent stake in Vistara. Now after its merger with Air India, the stake in the expanded Air India will be around 25 percent.
Gained momentum from FDI
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had given relaxation in many rules regarding FDI during his tenure. The UPA government led by Manmohan Singh had allowed foreign airlines to have up to 49 percent stake in domestic airlines. For this reason, Vistara and other airlines were able to fly only because of the investment made by foreign airlines.
At the same time, Gulf Airlines Etihad took 24 percent foreign stake in Jet Airways. Whereas Malaysia Air Asia had 49 percent stake in Air Asia India.
End of full service carrier airlines
Vistara was launched in January 2015. It was a full service carrier airline from then on. Indian Airlines was merged with Air India in the year 2007. Air India is also a full service carrier airline. During that time Sahara Airlines, Jet Airways and Kingfisher were also providing this service. But later the wheel started turning full circle.
Kingfisher Airlines closed down in the year 2012. After this Air Sahara merged with Jet Airways. That means Air Sahara is also closed. Jet Airways also closed down in the year 2019. And now from November 11, 2024, Vistara Airlines has been completely merged with Air India, that is, the operations of Vistara have also stopped completely. In such a situation, now only Air India is left as a full service carrier airline.
