Tata Group is reportedly in favour of maintaining continuity in the top management of Air India following its merger with Vistara. As per sources cited in a report by the Economic Times, all senior executives at Air India are expected to retain their positions post-merger.
Campbell Wilson will continue as the chief executive of Air India, with Nipun Aggarwal and Sanjay Sharma remaining as the chief commercial and transformation officer and the chief financial officer, respectively. According to the report, Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan might return to Singapore Airlines (SIA).
Deepak Rajawat, Vistara's Chief Commercial Officer, is expected to join the combined entity post-merger. Meanwhile, majority of Vistara employees will also transition to the merged company. However, some positions may be deemed surplus since Air India has already staffed those roles.
Advertisement
The Tata-owned airlines has been actively recruiting talent from other Tata Group companies and startups to revamp the airline, which incurred losses exceeding Rs 15,000 crore under government ownership before being acquired by the conglomerate.
Senior executives from Air India and Vistara, alongside the Boston Consulting Group, are overseeing the integration of human resources. On the other hand, all the legal and regulatory compliance tasks are being handled by the law firm AZB Partners.
As part of this integration effort, non-flying personnel from Vistara have undergone the Hogan Test, a personality assessment developed by the US firm Hogan.
The merger of Air India and Vistara, which was initially announced in November 2022, was cleared by the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore in March.
Advertisement
The conglomerate is planning to finalise the merger of both the entities by the end of this year. However, Air India CEO Wilson has stated that customer-facing aspects, such as Vistara's brand identity, will remain unchanged until 2025.
