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Air India () is the largest international airline in India and the national flag carrier of India with a worldwide network of passenger and cargo services. It is one of the two state-owned airlines in the country, the other being Indian Airlines.Its main bases are Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai and Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi with hubs at Chennai International Airport. The airline connects 95 destinations around the world, including 12 gateways in India with Air India Express, which is a fully-owned subsidiary of Air India.
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History
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Air India was founded as Tata Airlines in 1932, a division of Tata Sons Ltd. (now Tata Group) by J. R. D. Tata.
On October 15, 1932 the founder, J. R. D. Tata flew a single engined De Havilland Puss Moth registered VT-and carrying air mail (postal mail of Imperial Airways) 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 Neville Vincent.
Following the end of World War II, regular commercial service was restored in India and Tata Airlines became a public limited company on 29 July 1946 under the name Air India.
In 1948 49% of the airline was acquired by the Government of India, with an option to purchase an additional 2%. 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 in 1950 to Nairobi via Aden.
On 1 August 1953, the Government of India exercised its option to purchase a majority stake in the carrier and Air India International Limited was born as one of the fruits of the Air Corporations Act that nationalised the air transportation industry. At the same time all domestic services were transferred to Indian Airlines. 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 when its first Boeing 707, named Nandadevi and registered VT-DJJ, was delivered. Jet services to New York via London were inaugurated that same year in May 1960. On June 8, 1962 the airline's name was officially truncated to Air India. On June 11, 1962 Air India became the world's first all-jet airline.
In 1970, Air India moved its offices to 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. A distinctive feature of this livery is the paintwork around each aircraft window, in the cusped arch style of windows in Indian palaces.
In 1986 Air India took delivery of the Airbus A310. The airline is the largest operator of this type in passenger service. In 1988, Air India also took delivery of two Boeing 747-300s in mixed passenger-cargo configuration.
In 1989, to supplant its "Flying Palace" livery, Air India introduced a new livery that was mostly white but had a golden sun on a red tail. Only applied to around a half of Air India's fleet, the new livery did not succeed, as the Indian flying public complained about the phasing out of the classic colours. The new livery was dropped after two years and the old scheme was returned. Since then, Air India has been hesitant to radically change the paint scheme, instead opting for minor updates and facelifts.
In 1993, Air India took delivery of the flagship of its fleet when the first Boeing 747-400 named Konark and registered VT-ESM made history by operating the first nonstop flight between New York and Delhi.
In 1994 the airline was registered as Air India Ltd. 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 Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai.
The 21st century has seen Air India introduce new services to Shanghai in China, as well as two new US gateways at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and Los Angeles (LAX).
Air-India has registered a profit of Rs 133.85 crores (approx USD 30 million) 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 billion) in 2002-03 as against Rs 5017 crores (approx USD 1.1 billion) in the previous year. The newly elected Government of India has appointed Mr.Praful Patel as the Minister for Civil Aviation.
In March 2004, Air India started non-stop flights from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport to London, Heathrow, making it the third station from India (after Mumbai and Delhi). In December 2004, Air India leased three Boeing 777-222ER aircraft from United Airlines. With these three new B777s, Air India was able to introduce three new routes: Delhi-Frankfurt-Los Angeles, Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham-Toronto, and Delhi-Dhaka-Kolkata-London.
In early 2006, it was announced that Air India and the other state-run carrier, Indian Airlines may merge. *
The International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations has imposed a recruitment ban for pilots thus hindering the ability of the airline to recruit qualified pilots.
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Incidents and accidents since 1970
On 21 June 1982 a Boeing 707 crashed at Bombay airport while trying to land in a heavy rainstorm. 2 crew and 15 passengers were killed.
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Destinations
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Passenger operations
Air India has 44 world-wide destinations. It also has code-sharing agreements with international airlines to expand coverage. The airline carried 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 has received 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 travelers in select destinations within India. Air-India has duty free sale on board its flights, named 'Sky Bazaar'. The airline has also ordered for all there aircraft to have personal seat LCD TV screens starting from February, 2007
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Fleet
Air India and its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express operate a fleet consisting of the following 42 aircraft:
(Source: www.airindia.com)
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Ordered Fleet
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Air India placed an order for the following 68 aircraft from Boeing:
Air India plans to use the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to replace their Boeing 747-300 aircraft and Boeing 747-400 leased aircraft. They will operate on routes to Europe and the U.S. They plan to use their Boeing 787-8 aircraft to replace their aging A310-300 aircraft on routes to the Middle East and Southeast and East Asia. The Boeing 777-200LR will operate on non-stop routes to North America. These new aircraft will also allow Air India to open up new routes to Australia, Canada, Europe, East Asia, and the U.S.
Air India plans to refurbish the interiors of its 6 owned Boeing 747-400s. This refurbishment will include PTVs in all classes. Air India is set to merge with Indian Airlines to create a mega airline consisting of 130 to 140 aircraft. This will occur in the 2006 fiscal year. The combined entity is leaning toward joining Star Alliance to expand coverage and to be one of the biggest South Asian airlines. Air India will replace the remainder of its Boeing 747-400 by 2011 and is evaluating the Boeing 747-8 and the Airbus A380.
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Cargo operations
In 1954, Air-India started its freighter operations with a Douglas DC-3 Dakota aircraft, giving Air India the distinction of being the first Asian airline to operate freighters. The airline operates cargo flights to many destinations. The airline also has ground truck-transportation arrangements on select destinations.
A 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.
At the warehouse in Mumbai, Air India has developed a 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.
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Logo and mascot
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As it symbolises movement and speed, the Centaur, a stylised version of Sagittarius, was selected as Air-India's logo. The choice of a constellation was also intended as an allusion to the airline's original long distance routes with Lockheed Constellation aircraft.
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 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.
Air India has recently modified its Centaur Logo, now the Archer is pointing upwards towards the sky.
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Women pilots
There are 17 women pilots on Air India's rolls, including five trainee pilots.
On the occasion of the International 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.
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Financials
The profitability of Air India as published in the 2004 annual report by Ministry of Civil Aviation with figures in millions of Indian Rupees.
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Awards and recognition
The airline received The Mercury Award for the years 1994 and 2003, from the International Flight Catering Association, for finest in-flight catering services.
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Trivia
The Indian Prime Minister's flight operated by Air India is called AI 001.
In a recent episode of The Simpsons (Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore) Homer flies Air India from Springfield to India when he learned that the nuclear power plant is being shut down and outsourced to India.
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See also
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