One year after the Vistara merger, Air India fleet surprisingly shrunk from 208 to 187 aircraft. We break down the fleet rationalization, market share drop, and Vihaan.AI program delays stalling the Tata Group‘s aviation turnaround.
Air India Vistara Merger
The one-year anniversary of the Air India-Vistara merger was meant to be a fanfare celebration of Tata Group’s creation of a global-scale carrier. Instead, industry analysis reveals a counter-intuitive reality: Air India is, by several key metrics, a smaller airline today than it was on the day the integration was finalized. This surprising contraction underscores the profound integration challenges and global supply chain hurdles that continue to slow the ambitious Vihaan.AI transformation program.
When the Vistara brand officially folded into Air India on November 12, 2024, the combined entity boasted a formidable fleet of approximately 208 aircraft and offered over 5,600 weekly flights. One year later, operational data from aviation analysts like Cirium shows a significant slide.This downsizing is a necessary but painful consequence of fleet rationalization.
Furthermore, supply chain challenges have intensified, leading to unexpected delays in the arrival of both new deliveries and planes scheduled to return from deep maintenance checks. The highly anticipated acquisition of six Boeing 777-300ERs from Singapore Airlines, intended to boost capacity on key international routes, failed to materialize, leaving a substantial gap in the long-haul segment. These operational slippages have directly impacted the airline’s ability to maintain its projected growth trajectory.
