Aviation regulator DGCA has approved integrating the aircraft line maintenance operations of Air India and Vistara as the two airlines move close to their merger.

In a release on Friday, Air India said the integration will help in optimising resources to enhance operational performance and reduce aircraft turnaround times to bolster on-time performance.

"With a unified maintenance team and resources, Air India will be better positioned to service a mixed fleet of wide body and narrow body aircraft, enhancing schedule integrity and reliability of operations," it added.

The two airlines, part of the Tata Group, have secured the CAR (Civil Aviation Requirement) 145 approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to integrate their aircraft line maintenance operations.

Vistara is a joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines.

So far, Air India has in-house line maintenance at 12 stations in the country.

"Enhanced synergy of the combined resources will also ensure real-time availability of records of all activities for fast diagnosis and troubleshooting of technical issues by tracing and correcting of the systems involved.

"The combined strength will also create economies of scale in resource mobilisation and augment trained manpower to cater to various maintenance and check of the aircraft in the fleet of the Group Carriers, including Air India Express - the aircraft of which has been serviced by the Vistara team," the release said.

Post-merger, which was announced in November 2022, Singapore Airlines will have a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India.