Air India

Air India is the national flag carrier of India. It is one of the two state-owned airlines in the country, the other being Indian Airlines.

The airline has been assigned the IATA designator of AI, the ICAO designator of AIC and ARC numeric code of 098.

The operational hub of the airline is at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, India. The Airline operates flights that connect 39 destinations around the world including 12 gateways in India.

Table of contents

1 History
2 Awards and Recognitions
3 Women Pilots
4 Fleet
5 The Logo and mascot
6 Passenger operations

6.1 Sky Bazaar

7 Cargo operations
8 Future plans
9 Fatal events
10 External links

History

Air India traces its roots back to October 15, 1932 when its founder, Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (aka J. R. D. Tata) flew a single engined De Havilland Puss Moth registed VT-ADN carrying air mail from Karachi’s Drigh Road Aerodrome to Bombay’s Juhu Airstrip via Ahmedabad. The aircraft continued to Madras via Bellary piloted by a Royal Air Force pilot named Neville Vincent.

That same year, the airline was formally established as Tata Airlines, a division of Tata Sons Ltd. (now Tata Group), the large Indian industrial house. Following the end of World War II, regular commercial service was restored in India and Tata Airlines was converted into a public company under the name Air India in 1946.

1948 was a very significant year in the history of the airline as 49% of the airline was acquired by the Government of India, with an option to purchase an additional 2% at any time. In return, the airline was granted status to operate international services from India as the designated flag carrier under the name Air India International.

On June 8, 1948 a Lockheed Constellation L-749A named Malabar Princess and registered VT-CQP took off from Bombay bound for London via Cairo and Geneva. This marked the airline's first longhaul international flight, soon followed by service to Nairobi via Aden.

In 1953, the Government of India chose to exercise its option to purchase a majority stake in the carrier and Air India International Limited was born as one of the fruit of the Air Corporations Act that nationalised the air transportation industry. In 1954, the airline took delivery of its first L-1049 Super Constellations and inaugurated services to Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Air India International entered the jet age in 1960 as its first Boeing 707 named Nandadevi and registered VT-DJJ was delivered. Jet service to New York via London was inaugurated that same year. On June 8, 1962 the airline’s name was officially truncated to its current form of Air India. On June 11, 1962 Air India became the world’s first all-jet airline.

In 1970, Air India moved its offices into its own custom built skyscraper in downtown Bombay. The next year, the airline took delivery of its first Boeing 747-200 named Emperor Ashoka and registered VT-EBD. This coincided with the introduction of the 'Palace In The Sky' livery and branding.

In 1986, Air India made the decision to supplement its fleet with Airbus A310s and began to accept delivery of these aircraft later that year. The airline would later become (and remains today) the world’s largest operator of this type in passenger service. In 1988, Air India also took delivery of two Boeing 747-300ss in mixed passenger-cargo configuration.

In 1993, Air India took delivery of the new flagship of its fleet when the first Boeing 747-400 named Konark and registered VT-ESM made history by operating the first ever nonstop flight between New York and Delhi. In 1996, the airline inaugurated service to its second US gateway at Chicago’s O'Hare International Airport. In 1999, the airline opened its dedicated Terminal 2-C at the newly renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai.

The 21st century has seen Air India introduce new service to Shanghai in China, as well as two new US gateways at Newark Liberty International Airport and Los Angeles.

Awards and Recognitions

The Airline entered the Guinness Book of World Records - The largest evacuation by a civil airliner, involving evacuation of over 111,000 people from Amman to Mumbai - a distance of 4,117 km, by operating 488 flights in association with Indian Airlines, during August 13 - October 11, 1990, lasting a total of 59 days.

The airline received The Mercury Award for the years 1994 and 2003, from the International Flight catering association, for finest in-flight catering services.

Air India's security department became the first aviation security organisation in the world to acquire ISO 9002-1994 certification(January 31, 2001).

The Department of Engineering, Air India, has obtained the ISO 9002 for its Engineering facilities for meeting international standards.

Women Pilots

Air-India is one of the few airlines to have women pilots. Currently, there are 17 women pilots on its rolls, including five trainee pilots.

On the occasion of the World Women's Day, March 3rd 2004, the airline operated an "All women Flight" from Mumbai to Singapore. Capt. Rashmi Miranda, who became Air-India's first woman Commander in November 2003 and Capt. Kshmata Bajpai, piloted the flight, an Airbus A310 aircraft. The flight despatch activities relating to this flight was also coordinated by a woman Flight Despatcher, Ms Vasanti Kolnad. The Safety Audit on board was also conducted by another woman, Ms Harpreet D. Singh.

Fleet

As of July 1st, 2004, the airline has the following fleet:

AIRBUS A310-300 - 19
BOEING B747-400 - 10
BOEING B747-200 - 3
BOEING B747-300 - 2

In addition to the above, the management board of the airline has decided to use airplanes on dry lease commencing March 30, 2004. rbu

The Logo and mascot

As it symbolises movement and speed, the Centaur, a stylised version of Sagittarius, was selected as Air-India's logo.

Air India's mascot, the Maharaja, is a turban clad king with over-sized moustache and a royal dress. "He may look like royalty, but he isn't royal" - these are the words of Bobby Kooka , the man who conceived the Maharajah. This figure first made his appearance in Air-India way back in 1946, when Bobby Kooka as Air-India's Commercial Director and Umesh Rao, an artist with J.Walter Thompson Ltd., Mumbai, together created the Maharajah.

Passenger operations

Air India currently caters approximately 44 destinations throughought the world. It also has code-sharing agreements with many international airlines to expand coverage. The airline ferried 3.39 million passengers during the financial year ending March 2003 and achieved a load factor of 71.6 per cent, substantially higher than the 66 per cent load factor recorded in the preceding year. The airline strives to achieve the best in-flight standards and receives a 4 star rating for cabin safety procedures from skytrax airline quality review. Three classes of seats are offered - First class, Executive class and Economy class. Flat bed seats are offered for first class passengers. The airline also offers a frequent flyer programme alone and in collaboration with many of its alliances. The airline also offers luxury lounges in its ground terminals for its First and Executive class travellers in select destinations within India.

Sky Bazaar

Air-India has duty free sale on board its flights effective June 1, 2003 named 'sky bazaar', meaning Market in the sky.

Cargo operations

In 1954, Air-India commenced its freighter operations with a DC3 Dakota aircraft, giving Air-India the distinction of being the first Asian airline to operate freighters. Currently, the airline operates regular Cargo flights to many destinations of the world. The airline also has ground truck-transportation arrangements on select destinations.

An active member of IATA, Air-India carries all types of cargo including dangerous goods (hazardous materials) and live animals, provided such shipments are tendered according to IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations and IATA Live Animals Regulations, respectively.

At the warehouse in Mumbai, Air India has developed an indigenous system of inventory management for cargo handling of import/export functions. This takes care of the entire management of cargo, supports Electronic Data Interface (EDI) messages with Indian Customs and replaces to a great extent existing paper correspondence between Customs, Airlines, and the custodians. This also replaces manual handling and binning of cargo at the warehouse in Mumbai by Air India.

Future plans

Air-India has registered a profit of Rs 133.85 crores (Approx USD 30 Millions) in the financial year ending March 31, 2003, after taking into account the deferred tax benefit. In the year 2002, it recorded a net profit of Rs 15.44 crores. Air-India earned a total revenue of Rs 5658 crores (Approx USD 1.26 Billions) in 2002-03 as against Rs 5017 crores (Approx USD 1.1 Billions) in the previous year. The airline has ambitious plans to expand its network and acquire new aircraft. The newly elected Government of India has appointed Mr.Praful Patel, as the Minister for Civil Aviation who plans to make the airline " A Maharaja of the Skies ".

Fatal events

Since 1970, Air India has sufferred the following fatal events:

Air India Flight 855 crashed into the Arabian Sea after takeoff from Sahar International Airport (now Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport) in Bombay (now Mumbai) on 1 January 1978, killing everyone on board.
A flight on 21 June 1982 attempted a takeoff from Sahar International Airport (now Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport) in Bombay (now Mumbai). The aircraft tried to go back to the airport due to bad weather. The airport ran off the runway and broke up, killing 2 of 12 crew and 15 of 99 passengers on board.
Air India Flight 182 was blown up by Sikh nationalists on 23 June 1985. It was on its second leg on its Toronto-Montreal-London-Delhi-Bombay (Mumbai) flight when it exploded off the coast of Ireland. The plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. All 307 passengers and 22 crew on board died.

External links