The recent regulatory milestones for the proposed merger of Vistara into Air India mark a pivotal moment for India’s aviation landscape. In early June 2024 the National Company Law Tribunal issued an order approving the composite scheme of arrangement that will fold Vistara into Air India and set procedural timelines for dissolution and integration.
From a compliance perspective the transaction has cleared the most consequential competition and corporate hurdles to date. Singapore’s competition authority granted conditional approval in March 2024, raising concerns about combined market power on a small set of Singapore–India routes and extracting capacity and monitoring commitments from the parties. India’s Competition Commission had previously cleared the deal in 2023 subject to its own conditions. Those approvals remove major structural impediments to consolidation, but they are not the end of the regulatory exercise.
The ownership split that will emerge from the deal is straightforward on paper. Post transaction Singapore Airlines is expected to hold a roughly 25.1 percent stake while Tata Sons will retain the majority equity position. That ownership arrangement has clear implications for governance, strategic alignment of network planning, and future capital contributions.
Yet approval is not the same as integration. The NCLT order contemplates a process-driven timeline, including a requirement that the merger be completed within a defined window. In practical terms that means a cascade of operational and regulatory handoffs must occur before the merged carrier can fully operate as a single commercial entity. Aviation authorities, security agencies and foreign investment regulators all retain roles in signing off on different aspects of the consolidation.
Operationally the merger poses a catalogue of harmonization tasks that regulators will want to monitor closely. These include aircraft re-registration and air operator certificate implications, crew and licensing reciprocity, union and labour-rule compliance, slot reassignments at congested airports, and the transfer or consolidation of codeshares and traffic rights. The parties can start planning these transfers now. Regulatory approvals in principle do not eliminate the safety and traffic management work required to prevent service disruption during the cutover.
Competition watchers will continue to focus on slot concentration and route-level dominance. Singapore’s regulator explicitly flagged four Singapore–India routes as sensitive. The remedies tied to that approval, which include capacity maintenance commitments and independent monitoring, create an ongoing compliance burden. Those undertakings are aimed at preventing unilateral capacity withdrawals that could harm consumers on specific international city pairs. From a policy standpoint the case reinforces the need for careful, route level remedies when carriers with overlapping strengths consolidate.
The public statements from the carriers and the trade press reflect some uncertainty about schedule. Management commentary has ranged from expectations of completion by the end of 2024 to operational integration extending into 2025. That divergence matters for stakeholders who plan crew rostering, pilot line training, and infrastructure investments. It also matters for regulators who must set inspection and oversight cadences during the integration window.
For safety and airspace management the immediate priorities are continuity and transparency. Air traffic service providers and airport operators need clear notices about which flights will be operated under which AOC and call signs during transition. Harmonized training and standard operating procedures for combined fleets are essential to maintain operational safety margins while schedules change. Regulators should insist on phased operational testing rather than a single date of cutover for large swathes of the network.
Finally, the merger is a reminder that large cross-border airline consolidations are as much a regulatory exercise as they are a commercial one. The authorities have done their part in granting conditional approvals. The work now shifts squarely to implementation where legal, technical, and safety issues converge. For sound public policy the emphasis should be on enforceable remedies, transparent timelines, and enforceable checkpoints that protect competition and safety while allowing the merged airline to capture scale benefits. Regulators and the parties alike should document those checkpoints and report progress publicly so that airports, ATC providers, crews and customers can plan with confidence.