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Product cover image for Air India-Vistara Brand Merger: On the Right Path?

Air India-Vistara Brand Merger: On the Right Path?

Ruppal Walia Sharma, Renuka Kamath, Arnav Bansal, Amit Kumar Singh

Product #:W37029
Supplier:Ivey
Discipline:General Management, Marketing
Setting:India, 2023
Details:Case (PDF) • 17 pages • 2024-09-10

Subjects:

Sales and marketingMarketingManagement

Geography:

AsiaIndia
Your Price:$9.71

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In March 2023, Campbell Wilson, managing director and CEO of Air India, announced that the owners of the airline, the Tata group, planned to consolidate their airline portfolio. On the one hand, the group’s two full-service carriers (FSCs), Air India and Vistara, would be merged to form a single brand; on the other hand, so would the group’s two low-cost carriers (LCCs), Air India Express and Air Asia India. Wilson had joined Air India in June 2022, only a few months after the Tata group had taken over the debt-ridden airline from the government of India. Although it was clear that the Tata group wanted to consolidate its airline portfolio into one FSC brand and one LCC brand, some industry experts had expressed doubts about the Air India–Vistara merger, given their very different brand associations and heritage. Deciding whether to consolidate the brands was not easy. Would doing so be the right decision strategically, or should other options be explored?

Learning Objectives

This case is designed for use at the postgraduate level in brand management or marketing strategy courses. It can also be used in Executive Management programs. Within the brand management course, this case is best situated in the modules related to brand architecture and brand strategy. After working through the case and assignment questions, students should be able to:
  • Understand the complexities and intricacies of the airline industry, given its multiple-stakeholder structure.
  • Understand the strategic implications of brand mergers and of integrating acquired brands into a portfolio.
  • Evaluate and apply the principles of brand architecture to choose the optimum brand portfolio structure.
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Case Study: Air India-Vistara Brand Merger: On the Right Path? (English version) | Ivey Publishing