Air India-Vistara merger: Key changes at senior level, Vinod Kannan to continue as Chief Integration Officer

Ahead of the Air India-Vistara merger next week, the airline announced several senior management changes in preparation for the merger of Air India and Vistara, effective November 12. Vinod Kannan, Chief Executive Officer of Vistara and Chief Integration Officer for the merger, will continue in the latter role after the merger.

According to a press release, Deepak Rajawat, currently the Chief Commercial Officer of Vistara, will take up the Chief Financial Officer role at the newly-enlarged Air India Express, and will report to CEO Aloke Singh. Along with this, he will also support Group CFO Sanjay Sharma in strategic initiatives and projects.

Consequently, Air India Express' current CFO Vikas Agarwal will move to a new role in Air India, the statement added. 

Among other changes, Hamish Maxwell, Senior Vice President of Flight Operations at Vistara, has taken on an advisory role to Air India Express CEO Aloke Singh.

Pushpinder Singh, Chief Operations Officer at Air India Express, will be returning to flying, and his successor will be announced in the near future.

Deepa Chadha and Vinod Bhatt, Senior Vice Presidents of Human Resources & Corporate Affairs and Chief Information Officer at Vistara, respectively, will be moving into senior positions at other Tata group companies.

The release also mentioned that Vistara CFO Niyant Maru, who graciously stayed on past his retirement date to facilitate the merger, will be retiring at the end of his current term.

“Over the past two years the four Tata airlines have worked hard to prepare for and execute one of the most complex mergers in aviation history, consolidating from four airlines to two in the context of dramatic growth and wholesale transformation. As we now approach the end of that process, we are delighted to formalise a Group leadership comprising colleagues from all four antecedent airlines to drive the next phase of our journey," said Air India's CEO & MD Campbell Wilson.