Last Updated:November 11, 2024, 18:14 IST

Vistara is providing special desserts to all passengers flying today and making a special announcement informing about the airline’s closure on November 11.

Vistara will operate its last domestic flight at 10:50 pm and international flight at 11:45 pm from the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Vistara will on Monday operate its last-ever domestic flight at 10:50 pm IST from Mumbai to Delhi (flight number UK986) and its last international flight at 11:45 pm from Delhi to Singapore (UK115). The full-service carrier is providing special desserts to all passengers flying today and making a special announcement informing about Vistara’s closure on November 11.

From Tuesday, November 12, all Vistara aircraft will be operated by Air India with a special code ‘AI 2’ as Vistara has been merged with Air India as part of the Tata group’s efforts to consolidate all its aviation businesses under one brand — Air India.

On Monday, Vistara is also making a special announcement on its flights: “Beginning tomorrow, Vistara will merge into Air India with a commitment to create a world-class global airline. This will open up new possibilities for you, with a wider global network benefits and a bigger loyalty programme. While we will not fly Vistara, you will continue to enjoy the Vistara experience on Air India aircraft with the code AI 2 followed by the flight number. Thank you for choosing Vistara.”

According to an air traveller, Vistara also played ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ upon landing.

Thank you for #FlyingTheNewFeeling

The airline also provides special desserts to flight passengers on its last day on Monday.

Vistara will on Monday operate its last-ever domestic flight at 10:50 pm and international flight at 11:45 pm from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport.

The Tata group-owned airline was launched nine years ago in January 2015 as a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines. However, after the Tata Group acquired state-owned Air India last year, it announced unifying all its aviation business under the ‘Air India’ brand.

In August 2024, the government approved the foreign direct investment by Singapore Airlines as part of Vistara’s merger with Air India. After the merger, Singapore Airlines (SA) will have a 25.1 per cent stake in Tata Group-owned Air India. In 2015, Vistara was set up as a JV with SA’s 49 per cent stake.

Loyalty Programme: Club Vistara to Become Maharaja Club

Club Vistara has joined hands with Air India Flying Returns to become Maharaja Club. Customers can access to their account on http://airindia.com after November 12.

What Will Happen to Vistara Bookings Beyond November 11?

Vistara had closed all its bookings on September 3. The tickets were allowed to be booked for travel till November 11. However, for those who had earlier booked Vistara tickets for travel on November 12 or afterwards, their tickets will be transferred to Air India flights.

Travellers and crew member have got emotional on the last day of Vistara flight on Monday. An air traveller shared on X, “My last flight on Vistara was to Paris where the flight landed next to an Air India plane under a beautiful sunset. Great flight thoughtful crew. Sad to say farewell Vistara now, hopefully AI inflight Vista will continue to remind passengers of this lovely brand.”

Another traveller wrote, “Farewell to Vistara. India’s finest domestic airline, as it takes its final flight today. Since 2015, Vistara has set new standards for service and comfort in Indian skies. Thank you, Vistara, for making every journey memorable! Let us fly high to new horizons with Air India.”

Vistara Air-India Merger: Air India on Friday said Vistara routes and schedule as well as the in-flight experience will continue and the flights operated with Vistara planes will have the code ‘AI2’ post-merger. The merger of the two full-service carriers is scheduled to be completed on November 12, following which Singapore Airlines will have a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India. Vistara is a joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines.

Post the merger, the vintage ‘Maharaja’ will be retained through the frequent flyer programme of the integrated entity. “The existing members of Club Vistara will be seamlessly transferred to Air India’s Flying Returns program. With this merger, Flying Returns will also evolve into an all-new avatar ‘Maharaja Club’,” Air India said in the statement.

Reiterating that the experience offered by Vistara will continue for customers post-merger, Air India said Vistara will be identified by a special four-digit Air India code beginning with the digit ‘2’.

“For instance, UK 955 will become AI 2955 helping customers identify them while booking… after November 12,” the statement said.

Further, it said the routes and schedule operated by Vistara aircraft will continue to be the same, alongside the airline’s in-flight experience that includes the product and service such as menu and cutlery on the Vistara aircraft.

There are concerns in certain quarters on whether Vistara passengers will continue to get the same services like now, post-merger as Air India, which is in the transformation phase, has been facing certain service issues in recent times.

Air India, on October 2, also said that Vistara experience will remain post-merger.

On Wednesday, Vistara Chairman Bhaskar Bhat said the integrated entity will share the best practices of the two airlines and the livery of Vistara will stay for sometime.

The Air India-Vistara merger, announced in November 2022, will also see Singapore Airlines acquiring a 25.1 per cent stake in the merged entity.

New Delhi: Concerned over an alarming rise in the number of bomb hoaxes, the government is discussing multiple solutions to check this nuisance by adopting the best global practices and banning people making such threats from flying.

The civil aviation ministry is studying the best model available globally and it’s also in talks with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to strengthen the Indian model of handling such cases, said top government officials.

“This is inconvenience not just to passengers and airlines but for every stakeholder. The aviation and home ministries and security regulator Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) are working at multiple levels to not just check this menace but bring in enough punishments to discourage people from doing it,” said a top government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Dealing with the threat

While the aviation ministry is bringing penal provisions for people involved in making these calls, the home ministry and security agencies are speaking to virtual private network (VPN) service providers to ascertain the location of these messages. The home ministry is also looking at rules under the existing cyber laws to deter people making such threats.

Most of these threats come through VPN, which encrypts data and masks IP addresses to create a secure connection between devices over the internet.

Indian airlines received over 27 bomb threats in four days through email, social media and calls and all of them turned out to be hoax. Today, two international flights—one each by IndiGo and Vistara—received bomb threat calls. Air India said five of their flights received threat calls today.

It could be a case where some hoax threat calls were made and others followed it, maybe just to inconvenience someone’s flight trip, a senior government official said. “Look at the case of the minor arrested by Mumbi police—we need to ensure that there are enough consequences built in in the system to deter such people,” the official added.

No punishment so far

The Mumbai Police detained the 17-year-old boy from Chhattisgarh—he is suspected of issuing a bomb threat to an Air India flight via social media.

Currently, aviation rules do not have any provision to penalize such people. The aviation ministry is looking at bringing in rules like adding such offenders to the no-fly list or banning them from flights for a long duration, the official said.

As of now, in case of any such threat, a Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC), which is present at each airport, convenes to assess the threat. The committee comprises officials from the airport operator, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), BCAS, and the airline.

Factors such as the origin of the threat, specific details provided, and the timing of the message are evaluated. If a threat is classified as “non-specific”, the aircraft is not subjected to inspection. However, if the threat is deemed “specific”, flights are diverted to the nearest airport and then taken to an isolated bay, where passengers are evacuated and each and every luggage in the flight is checked. The aircraft is released for flight only after a thorough check

This set procedure won’t be reviewed and will continue to guide decisions on threat calls, officials said.