AI, Singapore Airlines to maintain minimum capacity
As part of commitments made to fair trade regulator CCI to address possible competition concerns arising out of the Vistara merger
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New Delhi: Air India and Singapore Airlines will ensure minimum capacity on various domestic and international routes, including Delhi-Sydney and Delhi-Paris, as part of commitments made to fair trade regulator CCI to address possible competition concerns arising out of the Vistara merger.
Competition Commission of India (CCI), on September 1, approved the proposed merger of Vistara with Air India under a deal wherein Singapore Airlines will also acquire a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India. Certain competition concerns due to the proposed merger were raised by the watchdog and to address them, the airlines have given certain commitments with respect to the merger. As per the commitments, Air India has voluntarily offered to maintain “minimum capacity/ supply level” on certain overlapping O&D (Origin & Destination) domestic and overseas routes. They are Bhubaneshwar-Delhi, Bengaluru-Guwahati, Cochin-Delhi, Delhi-Thiruvananthapuram, Amritsar-Delhi, Bhubaneshwar-Mumbai and Bengaluru-Delhi in the do mestic segment, according to a 73-page CCI order that has been made public. The international routes where Air India will maintain minimum capacity/ supply level are Delhi-Sydney, Delhi-Melbourne, Delhi-Paris and Delhi-Frankfurt. On these domestic and international routes, both Air India and Vistara operate flights.