Air India, Vistara enter interline partnership; how does this help passengers?

Air India and Vistara have entered into an interline partnership which would enable passengers to travel between the two airline’s network seamlessly. Under this partnership, passengers will now be able 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.

As per the press release, the scope of the agreement between the two airlines includes Inter Airline Through Check-in (IATCI) implementation.  

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Last year, both the carriers had entered into an Interline Considerations on Irregular Operations (IROPs) agreement which enabled them to transfer both domestic and international passengers to each other in case of a disruption in flight operations involving either airline. The arrangement between them enables airport teams of both airlines to offer alternative first available flights so that inconvenience to passengers is minimised. Prior to that, Air India and AirAsia India, too, had entered into a similar agreement with AirAsia India for two years.

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Speaking of the interline partnership, Campbell Wilson, CEO & MD, Air India, said: “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." 

He further added, "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.”

"This partnership 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," Vinod Kannan, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara said.

Meanwhile, this interline partnership is in addition to AI's 100 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, the company said.

Last year in September, Air India had formed a five-year strategy to gain at least 30 percent market share under its transformation plan called Vihaan.AI. Under the five-year roadmap, the airline also strives to significantly grow its international routes and aims to focus on sustainable growth, profitability and market leadership.

Air India served as government-run enterprise and the national carrier for a period of 69 years before being reacquired by the Tata Group in January 2022 under a government-led strategic divestment programme.