Air India, Vistara sign interline partnership

Gurugram (Haryana) [India], May 3 : Air India has entered into an interline partnership with full-service carrier, Vistara, enabling passengers to travel between the two airlines' network seamlessly.
The partnership will enable flyers to book their flights on either airline and seamlessly get access to several domestic destinations as well as international destinations. This will allow Air India's customers to access Vistara's domestic network and also give Vistara's flyers to access over 80 points of Air India's extensive domestic and global network.
Interline is a relationship between airlines which allows one airline sells services to a customer that are provided by another airline.
According to a joint statement from Air India and Vistara, the scope of the agreement between the two airlines includes Inter Airline Through Check-in (IATCI) implementation, which enables guests 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.
Air India and Vistara operate at the same terminals at most major airports in India, adding to the ease of the on-ground travel experience for guests with interline itineraries. Vistara is a joint venture of Tata and Singapore Airlines.
Air India and Vistara, have also implemented 'Interline Considerations on Irregular Operations (IROPs)' or the 'disruption transfer' functionality. According to the statement, this would enable 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.
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. Our common commitment to excellence in safety and customer service lies at the forefront of this partnership."
The CEO and MD added, "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."
Vinod Kannan, CEO, Vistara, said, "This partnership brings together two leading airlines in India to offer greater convenience and enhanced connectivity to customers travelling 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," Vinod Kannan said, adding, "We are delighted to further strengthen our relationship with Air India and connecting our customers to new destinations in their wide network."
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.
Recently, Air India announced having entered the 'take off' phase in 'Vihaan.AI', which is focused on developing the platforms, processes, and systems needed to build toward excellence.