Air India is India's national flag carrier. Although air transport was born in India on February 18, 1911 when Henri Piquet, flying a Humber bi-plane, carried mail from Allahabad to Naini Junction, some six miles away, the scheduled services in India, in the real sense, began on October 15, 1932. It was on this day that J.R.D. Tata, the father of Civil Aviation in India and founder of Air India, took off from Drigh Road Airport, Karachi, in a tiny, light single-engined de Havilland Puss Moth on his flight to Mumbai (then known as Bombay) via Ahmedabad.

He landed with his precious load of mail on a grass strip at Juhu. At Mumbai, Neville Vintcent, a former RAF pilot who had come to India from Britain three years earlier on a barn-storming tour, during which he had surveyed a number of possible air routes, took over from J.R.D.Tata and flew the Puss Moth to Chennai (then Madras) via Bellary.

Tata Airlines
Tata Airlines, as Air India was then known, consisted of one Puss Moth, one Leopard Moth, one palm-thatched shed, one whole time pilot assisted by Tata and Vintcent, one part-time engineer, two apprentice-mechanics and unlimited optimism.

In 1933, the first full year of its operations, Tata Airlines flew 160,000 miles, carried 155 passengers and 10.71 tonnes of mail. Tata Airlines was converted into a Public Company under the name of Air India in August 1946.

Going Global
By the beginning of 1947, Air India turned its attention to the international scene. Towards the end of the year, an agreement was reached with the Government of India for the formation of Air India International Limited to operate international services.

At Air India's request, the Government agreed to limit their capital participation to 49 per cent, subject to an option to acquire, at any time, a further two per cent from Air India.

Air India International, which was registered on March 8, 1948, inaugurated its international services on June 8, 1948, with a weekly flight from Mumbai to London via Cairo and Geneva with a Lockheed Constellation aircraft.

Nationalisation
The early '50s saw the financial condition of various airlines operating in India deteriorate to such an extent that the Government decided to step in and nationalise the air transport industry and accordingly two autonomous Corporations were created on August 1, 1953.

Indian Airlines was formed with the merger of eight domestic airlines to operate domestic services, while Air India International was established to operate the overseas services.

The word 'International' was dropped in 1962. Effective March 1, 1994, the airline has been functioning as Air India Limited.

From a total of three stations served at the time of nationalisation, Air India's worldwide network today covers 44 destinations by operating services with its own aircraft and through code-shared flights.

AIR INDIA ON THE UPSWING- LARGER FLEET AND EXPANDED NETWORK

Air India is India's finest flying Ambassador. The urge to excel and the enthusiasm which characterised Air India's first flight, way back on October 15, 1932, is quintessential even today - thanks to Air Indians who have kept alive the tradition of flying high.

New Thrust

Air India has expanded its fleet by inducting 22 aircraft - four B777-200ER, five B747-400s, one B747-400 Combi and 12 Airbus 310s -- on dry lease during the past three years. Induction of these dry-leased aircraft, pending delivery of 68 new aircraft between February 2007 and 2012, has enabled Air India to enhance frequencies to many of its existing destinations and introduce several new flights. This includes introduction of:
A daily service on the India-Paris-Newark sector;
A daily flight to Los Angeles via Frankfurt;
Flights to Shanghai from Mumbai via Delhi-Bangkok;
Flights to Seoul from Mumbai via Delhi-Hong Kong;
Terminator flights to London from Mumbai and Ahmedabad;
Flights on the Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham-Toronto sector;
Thrice-weekly flights on the Delhi-Dhaka-Kolkata-London sector.

Phenomenal Growth

The preceding three years has seen phenomenal growth on the European and US sectors. Since December 2002, not only has the network been expanded to cover Newark and Los Angeles in addition to New York and Chicago in U.S., the capacity has also been increased from 10 to 28 flights per week - a daily service to all the four destinations. Likewise, flights to UK have been increased from 10 to 27 - 21 of these to London and six to Birmingham. Frequencies have also been significantly enhanced on the South-East Asia and Far-east routes.

Fleet Acquisition

Air India has placed an order on Boeing Airplanes Company for acquisition of 68 new aircraft - 50 for Air India and 18 for Air India’s low budget subsidiary airline - Air India Express. The 50 aircraft ordered for Air India include eight B777-200LR Medium Capacity Ultra Long-Range aircraft; 15 B777-300ER Medium Capacity Long-Range aircraft; and 27 B787 Medium Capacity Long-Range aircraft. For Air India Express, 181-seater 18 B737-800W aircraft have been ordered. The phased induction of these aircraft commencing November 2006 will be completed by 2012. The 50 aircraft ordered for Air India will have all the modern on-board amenities.
Keeping in view the intense competition, both from Indian carriers who are now allowed to fly abroad and from international airlines operating to India, Air India has appointed Alia Group as Brand Consultants. Their scope of work includes almost every aspect of airline functioning, particularly areas which have customer interface. This exercise will help Air India in enhancing its brand identity in India and abroad.

New Subsidiary Airline

Air India has also launched a new subsidiary airline - Air India Express, effective April 29, 2005. Air India Express, with three aircraft in its fleet, presently operates 38 flights per week from five points in India - Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mumbai and Delhi to six destinations in the Gulf - Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Al Ain, Muscat, Salalah and Sharjah. Air India Express, with its attractively low fares, has helped make travel affordable, thus spurring growth in travel.

Network

In its ever-growing quest for providing direct services from various points in India, Air India currently operates flights from Mumbai, and 13 other Indian cities, viz. Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Pune and Thiruvananthapuram. Commencement of international operations from these cities has obviated, to a very large extent, the need for passengers from these regions to necessarily travel to Mumbai and Delhi, the traditional main gateways, for taking international flights. Passengers boarding or deplaning in these cities can now complete their immigration and custom formalities at their city airport, both at the time of departure and arrival.

Air India’s global network currently, region-wise, is:

UK: London and Birmingham.
Europe: Paris, Frankfurt
Asia Pacific: Bangkok, Dhaka, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Osaka, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo.
Gulf & Middle East: Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dammam, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, Kuwait, Muscat and Riyadh.
USA & Canada: Chicago, Los Angeles, New Jersey, New York and Toronto.
Africa: Dar-es-Salaam and Nairobi.

Code-sharing

Additionally, Air India has increased its market access through code-sharing arrangements with other international carriers. Air India’s code share services are now available for:
Europe: Paris-Amsterdam/Berlin/Frankfurt, Geneva, Moscow, Vienna and Zurich;
UK: London-Delhi-London;
USA & Canada: Kuala Lumpur-Los Angeles-Kuala Lumpur; Singapore-Los Angeles-Singapore; and Seoul-San Francisco-Seoul;
Asia Pacific: Bangkok, Bangalore/Hyderabad/Mumbai-Kuala Lumpur; Kochi-Singapore-Kochi; Hyderabad-Singapore-Hyderabad;
Gulf & Middle-East: Dubai-Chennai-Dubai; Dubai-Kochi-Dubai; Kuwait-Thiruvananthapuram -Kuwait; Kuwait-Chennai-Kuwait; and Kuwait-Kochi-Kuwait;Africa:Mauritius; and
Korea: Seoul.