Air India Travel Agent Login: Registering and Booking AI in 2026
By Aarav Sharma (Aarav Sharma covers Indian airline operations, airport infrastructure and route economics. He writes about Tier-1 and Tier-2 airport developments, IndiGo and Air India fleet strategy, and the unsung Indian aviation hubs travellers should know about.) · Published · Last updated · 9 min read
Vistara is gone, folded into Air India, and that changed how agents book the country's biggest full-service carrier. Here's the real 2026 picture — agent portal, NDC, GDS, aggregators, what you need to register, and what you can actually do once you're in.
Quick answer
In 2026 there's no single magic "Air India agent login" that does everything. Agents reach Air India inventory three ways: Air India's own NDC and agent portal (look for agents.airindia.com and ndc.airindia.com), a GDS like Amadeus, Sabre or Travelport, or a B2B aggregator such as TBO, TripJack or Riya. Since the Vistara merger completed, every former Vistara flight now sells as Air India (the AI 2xxx flights), so you book it all under one airline code. Air India Express (the low-cost arm) has its own separate agent registration. Always confirm the current portal name and eligibility on Air India's official site before you sign up.
What the Vistara merger changed for agents
If you started selling flights before late 2024, here's the short version: Vistara doesn't exist as a separate airline anymore. Tata folded it into Air India, and the merger was completed in November 2024. By 2026 the integration is done — the old UK flights now fly as Air India "AI 2" flights (you'll see flight numbers like AI 2xxx), and they check in, ticket and earn loyalty entirely on Air India systems.
For your day-to-day, that means a few concrete things:
- One inventory, one code. You no longer hunt for Vistara separately in your GDS or portal. Everything sits under AI. The premium cabins and routes Vistara used to run are now Air India stock.
- Smart Fares replaced the old ladder. Air India moved to a Value / Classic / Flex fare-family structure (often branded Smart Fares). Each family bundles baggage, seat selection and change rules differently, so quote the family — not just the lowest number — to your client. We break the families down on our Air India fare types page.
- Club Vistara became Maharaja Club. Frequent-flyer accounts were migrated into Air India's Maharaja Club programme. If a client asks about their old Vistara points, they live in Maharaja Club now.
Net effect: simpler in theory (one airline), but you do need to re-learn the fare families and refresh any old Vistara content you've got lying around in your booking notes.
The three ways agents book Air India
There's no one-size answer here. Most agencies use a mix. Here's how the channels stack up.
| Channel | What it is | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Air India agent / NDC portal | Air India's own B2B access — the agent portal (agents.airindia.com) and NDC content (ndc.airindia.com), open to IATA and non-IATA partners | Agents who want direct AI content, NDC-exclusive offers and ancillaries without an aggregator markup |
| GDS | Amadeus, Sabre or Travelport — the classic global reservation systems carrying AI content (including NDC) | Established agencies with GDS subscriptions, multi-airline workflows and IATA accreditation |
| B2B aggregator portal | TBO, TripJack, Riya Connect and similar — one login that resells AI alongside other airlines | Newer or smaller agents who want one wallet, no GDS contract, and instant onboarding |
A quick note on the names above: Air India publishes its NDC and agent onboarding pages on its own domains, and an aggregator's commercial terms change often. Treat the URLs here as a starting point and verify on Air India's official site (and with the aggregator directly) before you commit.
Direct Air India access: the agent portal and NDC
Air India was the first Indian carrier to roll out NDC (New Distribution Capability), and that's the modern pipe for direct agent access. The pitch is straightforward: agents connect to Air India's NDC content and get richer offers, ancillary products and fare families — some of them NDC-exclusive — in real time, rather than the stripped-down content traditional channels used to carry.
What's useful for you:
- Air India's agency portal is open to both IATA and non-IATA partners — you don't have to be IATA-accredited to access NDC content, which is a big deal for smaller agencies.
- Onboarding starts at the Air India agent pages (look for agents.airindia.com and the onboarding flow there).
- For NDC specifically, Air India points partners to ndc.airindia.com and a distribution contact email — publicly listed as ndcdistribution@airindia.com — to discuss next steps and connection.
If you already work through a GDS, good news: Air India says its NDC content is available across the major GDS platforms, so you don't necessarily need a separate technical integration to see NDC fares. Confirm what your specific GDS or booking tool surfaces, because coverage varies by provider and contract.
Registration and eligibility, step by step
Exact documents depend on which channel you pick, but the building blocks are the same across Indian travel-trade registration. Here's the typical path.
- Register your business first. A proprietorship, partnership or company — whatever you've set up — with the registration proof to back it.
- PAN. Your business or proprietor PAN is non-negotiable. Airlines and aggregators key your account to it.
- GST registration. A GSTIN matters for input credit and for issuing tax-compliant invoices to corporate clients. Some retail-agent flows treat GST as optional, but if you're serious about B2B, get registered.
- IATA or TIDS. Full IATA accreditation (with its bank guarantee and qualification criteria) opens GDS ticketing on your own stock. If you're not IATA-accredited, get a TIDS code from IATA — it's free, it's the standard ID for non-IATA agents, and Air India's NDC portal accepts non-IATA partners.
- Business proof and KYC. Address proof, bank details and identity documents for the agency and its principals.
For the direct Air India route, you'll create your account through the agent onboarding portal and verify these details there. For an aggregator, you upload the same documents into their KYC flow and you're usually live faster. New to the trade entirely? Start with our walkthrough on how to become a travel agent in India in 2026, then come back here.
One honest caveat: any IATA bank-guarantee amounts, deposit thresholds or commission percentages shift over time and vary by channel. We're not going to quote a number that'll be stale next quarter — check the current figures directly with IATA, Air India, or your aggregator.
Credit, deposits and how you fund bookings
However you book, you have to pay for the ticket — the question is the mechanism. Broadly:
- Through a GDS / IATA (BSP): ticketing settles through IATA's BSP billing cycle, backed by your bank guarantee and accreditation. This is the traditional model for established agencies.
- Through Air India direct (AD / agency deposit): agent channels typically run on a prepaid or agency-deposit basis — you maintain a balance and bookings draw against it. Some setups offer credit terms; treat those as case-by-case.
- Through an aggregator: you top up a prepaid wallet and every booking debits it instantly. No bank guarantee, no BSP cycle — simplest for small agencies, which is why a lot of newer agents start here.
We're keeping this qualitative on purpose. Exact deposit minimums, top-up rules and any interest or credit terms differ by channel and change — confirm the live numbers before you plan your cash flow around them.
What you can do once you're logged in
A proper agent channel is more than a search-and-book screen. Once you're in — whether it's Air India direct, a GDS or an aggregator — you should be able to:
- Search and book across all Air India domestic and international routes, including the former Vistara (AI 2xxx) flights.
- Pick the right fare family — Value, Classic or Flex — and add ancillaries like extra baggage, seats and meals where the channel supports it.
- Manage the PNR: reissue, reschedule and cancel, subject to the fare rules of the family you sold.
- Process refunds per Air India's churn and cancellation policy — worth reading, because the rules differ by fare.
- Handle group bookings. For 9+ passengers, Air India runs a dedicated group desk (publicly listed at groups.airindia.com) open to IATA and non-IATA agents — better than trying to force a group through the normal screen.
- Issue GST invoices for corporate clients, either through the channel or Air India's GST portal.
One thing to keep straight: Air India Express is a separate booking. The low-cost arm has its own agent registration and its own fare rules — see our Air India Express fare types page. Mainline AI and AI Express don't share a single agent login, so you'll register for both if you sell both.
Direct vs aggregator: which should you pick?
The honest answer is most working agencies use both, but here's how to think about the trade-off.
| Direct (Air India / GDS) | Aggregator | |
|---|---|---|
| Setup speed | Slower — onboarding, possible accreditation | Fast — KYC and you're live |
| Content depth | Fullest AI content, NDC-exclusive offers | Good, but framed by the aggregator |
| Multi-airline | One airline per direct login | Many airlines, one login |
| Funding | BSP / agency deposit | Prepaid wallet |
| Margins | Potentially better on AI fares | Convenient, but a layer in between |
If you only sell Air India and you do real volume, direct access can earn its keep. If you sell every airline and want one screen, an aggregator wins on convenience. Plenty of agents go direct on AI for the rich content and lean on an aggregator for everything else. For the wider landscape, our guide to the best B2B flight booking portal in India for 2026 compares the options.
The one-login alternative: FlightGPT Partner
Here's the friction nobody loves: to sell the Indian market properly you end up juggling Air India direct, Air India Express separately, IndiGo, Akasa, SpiceJet — each with its own login, its own wallet, its own fare quirks. That's a lot of tabs.
FlightGPT Partner is built to collapse that into one B2B login. From a single dashboard you can book Air India, IndiGo, Akasa Air and SpiceJet, plus series, group, fixed-departure and wholesale fares that don't show up on the regular screens. It runs on an agency wallet so funding is one balance, not five, and it issues GST invoices for your corporate work.
To be straight with you: it doesn't replace your direct Air India relationship for every edge case, and for some specialised needs you'll still want the airline's own desk. But if you're tired of context-switching across portals just to put a domestic itinerary together, one login that covers the big four carriers plus wholesale stock saves real time. You can compare the airline-specific logins in our siblings on IndiGo, SpiceJet and Akasa Air agent access, and check fare details for IndiGo, Akasa and SpiceJet too.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official Air India travel agent login?
Yes — Air India runs an agent onboarding portal (look for agents.airindia.com) and an NDC content portal (ndc.airindia.com) open to both IATA and non-IATA partners. There isn't one single login that covers absolutely everything, though: Air India Express has its own separate agent registration, and group bookings go through a dedicated group desk. Confirm the current portal names and links on Air India's official site, since these can change.
Do I still book Vistara separately after the merger?
No. Vistara was merged into Air India and the integration completed in 2024. Former Vistara flights now sell as Air India (the AI 2xxx flights) under the AI code. You book them through the same Air India channels — agent portal, NDC, GDS or aggregator — as any other Air India flight.
Can I book Air India without IATA accreditation?
Yes. Air India's NDC and agent portal accept non-IATA partners, and you can register a free TIDS code from IATA as your standard non-IATA identifier. Many B2B aggregators also onboard non-IATA agents on a prepaid-wallet basis. Full IATA accreditation is mainly needed if you want to ticket on your own stock through a GDS via BSP. Verify the exact eligibility on Air India's official site.
What documents do I need to register as an Air India agent?
Typically: business registration proof, PAN, a GSTIN (for tax-compliant invoicing and input credit), and either IATA accreditation or a TIDS code, plus standard KYC (address proof, bank details, identity). Air India direct may verify these through its onboarding portal; aggregators run their own KYC. Requirements vary by channel, so check the current list before you apply.
What's the difference between Air India and Air India Express for agents?
Air India mainline is the full-service carrier (with Value, Classic and Flex Smart Fares); Air India Express is the low-cost arm with its own fare rules and its own separate agent registration. They don't share a single agent login, so if you sell both you'll register for both. PAN is generally mandatory for AI Express agent registration; GST handling can differ for retail versus corporate agents.
Is it better to book Air India direct or through an aggregator?
It depends on your volume and mix. Direct access (Air India portal or GDS) gives the fullest content, including NDC-exclusive offers, and can mean better margins on AI fares — but onboarding is slower. An aggregator gives you one wallet, fast setup and many airlines in one login, at the cost of a layer in between. A lot of agents use both: direct on Air India, aggregator for everything else. A one-login B2B platform like FlightGPT Partner is a third option that covers the major Indian carriers plus wholesale fares from a single dashboard.