Air India, Vistara sign interline pact to provide seamless travel across 80 stops

Air India has over 100 similar agreements and close to 50 through check-in agreements with partner airlines globally, such as Lufthansa, United Airlines, Air Canada, and Singapore Airlines, among others.

The scope of the agreement between Air India and Vistara 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, Air India said.

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."

"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," he added.

"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.

Air India and Vistara operate at the same terminals at most major airports in the country. Vistara is a joint venture between the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines.

The two carriers have also implemented ’Interline Considerations on Irregular Operations (IROPs), an arrangement which enables them to seamlessly transfer passengers to one another’s first available alternative flights in case of operational disruptions such as delays, cancellations, diversions, among others.