The Tata Group has reportedly favoured retaining all the top managerial positions of Air India airline post-merger with Vistara.
According to a report by the Economic Times, the salt-to-steel conglomerate has supported the position of Campbell Wilson as chief executive of Air India, and Nipun Aggarwal and Sanjay Sharma as chief commercial and transformation officer and chief financial officer, respectively.
The report added that Vistara CEO Vinod Kanan could return to his parent company, Singapore Airlines (SIA). Whereas, Deepak Rajawat, the chief commercial officer at Vistara, might be a part of the merged entity.
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Storyboard18 could not independently verify the report.
In terms of employees, Air India is likely to absorb most of the Vistara employees but a few roles may become reductant as Air India has already filled up those roles, the ET report added.
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Notably, a team of senior executives from both the airlines and Boston Consulting Group are working together on the integration of human resources. Law firm AZB Partners is dealing in legal and regulatory compliance. The non-flying staffers of Vistara would undergo the ‘Hogan Test’, designed by a US-based firm Hogan. The rest measures normal personality characteristics necessary for job fit, specifically for leadership roles.
The Tata Group is ramping up to consolidate its airline business which posted a loss of Rs 15,532 crore in FY2023. Under the restructuring plan, Air India Express and AirAsia have been merged to form a no-frills airline. While Air India and Vistara merger will compete in the full-service segment. The integration between the two might be completed by the end of this year.
However, CEO Campbell said that the customer-facing elements, including the brand identity of Visatara, would not change before 2025