Surprise! Air India is now a smaller airline, a year after Vistara merger
Today marks one year since Tata-Singapore Airlines (SIA) joint venture Vistara merged with Air India. A lot has happened since then, including the fatal crash of an Air India flight in June in which only one person survived.
A year later, Air India’s turnaround remains a work in progress, but slower than most would have imagined. The snail’s pace, as critics have noted, is driven by supply chain challenges, market dynamics and geopolitical challenges that have intensified since the merger.
Fleet, flights and market share
At the time of the merger, the airline proudly displayed its combined fleet of 298 aircraft, including those of Air India Express. The Air India-Vistara fleet stood at 208 at that time.
A year later the fleet has significantly reduced to 187 aircraft and several more are planned to leave the fleet. Fleet strength was expected to increase. Instead he fell.
While the unfortunate accident in Ahmedabad resulted in the cancellation of a 787, the airline gave up on the old B777-200LR. Later, ex-Delta Air Lines B777-200LRs are also returning after the end of the lease period. The six B777-300ERs it announced it would purchase from Singapore Airlines never reached the airline.
Air India flew to 90 domestic and international destinations as a combined entity on merger day. This meant more than 5,600 flights per week.
According to data shared by aviation analytics company Cirium, the number of weekly flights decreased to 4,823 this November. Air India also suspended its services to Washington but managed to add flights to London Heathrow as well.
It has also launched a number of codeshares in India, including Kenya Airways and Air Astana, as well as a number of seasonal and year-round destinations including Bhuj, Gaya and Jodhpur.
However, the fleet is moving towards a synchronized operation as Air India has adapted the A320neo from two classes to three classes to match the configuration of older Vistara aircraft and offer a stable product in the market.
market share
When Air India launched its ambitious Vihaan.AI transformation program, it aimed to achieve 30% market share as a group within five years. Market conditions and the pace of growth meant that the group was very close to this target within a few months.
In September 2024, the last month in which the four entities operated separately, the group’s market share in India was 29.2%. In December, the first month of operation for the two organizations, their market share fell to 26.4%. As of September 2025, the group’s domestic market share stood at 27.4%. October data is expected.
Tail Note
The next big step for Air India will be to focus on education. While Airbus has inaugurated its partnership Simulators in Gurugram, the much-talked-about aviation academy in Amravati in Maharashtra, which is scheduled to become operational in the second half of 2025, is yet to spread its wings. Timetables continue to slip for the airline; The repair of 27 A320neos was completed only in October this year, ahead of the initial deadline of June, which was later revised to September. While the first of the 787s were expected to return from repair by December, the repair of the 777 fleet is now further delayed, raising the question of whether the initial estimates were actually well calculated or were announced without much thought.
The airline has a long way to go and will have to work hard to get out of its “works in progress” mentality at the earliest as it celebrates this important milestone.
The influx of 787-9s and A350s into the Air India fleet will help the airline have more aircraft in newer configurations with newer products. This will help compete well with hubs in the region and create a buffer against the decline in the rupee by attracting more international transfer passengers. Rupee depreciation affected IndiGo’s Q2 results but will equally impact Air India; The company is unknown because it is not a publicly traded company.
Author Ameya Joshi is an aviation analyst.
