Air India has signed an interline partnership with Vistara, giving access to each other’s passengers.
Interline partnership
The new interline partnership between Air India and Vistara enables Air India’s passengers to travel seamlessly on Vistara’s route network to and from over 80 points across Air India’s domestic and global network.
The agreement includes Inter Airline Through Check-in (IATCI) implementation, which enables passengers to receive their boarding passes at the first point of departure for all the travel sectors on a single ticket, and have their baggage checked-in through to their final destinations. Additionally, the Tata Group airlines say that ground travel experience for interline itineraries will be smooth as both the airlines operate at the same terminal at most major airports in India.
We are pleased at our interline partnership with Vistara, which will provide greater connectivity and convenience to our joint customers travelling within and outside of India on both our expanding route networks. Our common commitment to excellence in safety and customer service lies at the forefront of this partnership. We look forward to serving Vistara’s customers with additional travel choices to Air India destinations across the Americas, Europe, Far East, Australia, and the Middle East.
said Campbell Wilson, CEO & MD, Air India.
Air India and Vistara have also implemented ‘Interline Considerations on Irregular Operations (IROPs) or the ‘disruption transfer functionality. This enables the two airlines to seamlessly transfer passengers to one another’s first available alternative flights in case of operational disruptions such as delays, cancellations, diversions, etc. and minimise any inconvenience to their guests.
“This partnership brings together two leading airlines in India to offer greater convenience and enhanced connectivity to customers traveling across our joint network. This is reflective of our deep-rooted commitment to offering our customers the finest and the most convenient way to fly across the world. We are delighted to further strengthen our relationship with Air India and connecting our customers to new destinations in their wide network.”
said Vinod Kannan, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara.
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Air India’s interline partnership with Vistara comes in addition to over 100 interline agreements and close to 50 through check-in agreements it has with partner airlines globally, such as Lufthansa, United Airlines, Air Canada, and Singapore Airlines, among others (mainly Star Alliance members).
Step in the right direction
As Air India and Vistara await merger approvals from different regulators, the signing of an interline partnership is a no-brainer for both the airlines. I feel that this will enable both the airlines to understand their passengers better and prepare for what will be a major task ahead.
An interline partnership is the least both airlines can have and this is great as passengers will have more connecting options to choose from. Air India and Vistara both have their main hubs at Delhi with secondary hubs at Mumbai and Bengaluru, enabling easy transfers.
In the press release, the airlines say that they operate from the same terminal “at most major airports”. There is just one exception here – Bengaluru, at which Air India operates from the older Terminal 1 while Vistara operates from the newer Terminal 2. While Bengaluru is a “focus city” for both the airlines, their domestic network focuses more on Delhi and Mumbai, the two largest cities in the country.
This interline partnership is ‘sort’ of a beginning of a long relationship between the two Tata airlines, which will soon merge and hopefully become one of the best in the world.
Featured image by Airbus (Air India) and Ahmedabad Airspace (Vistara)
What do you think of Air India and Vistara’s new partnership? Let me know in the comments section below.
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