Air India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||
| Air India | ||
|---|---|---|
| IATA AI |
ICAO AIC |
Callsign AIRINDIA |
| Founded | 1932 | |
| Hubs | Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport Indira Gandhi International Airport |
|
| Focus cities | Chennai International Airport | |
| Frequent flyer program | Flying Returns | |
| Member lounge | Maharajah lounges | |
| Fleet size | 43 (+ 68 orders) | |
| Destinations | 47 | |
| Parent company | Air India | |
| Company slogan | "Your Palace in the Sky" | |
| Headquarters |  Mumbai, India |
|
| Key people | V. Thulasidas (Chairman) | |
| Website: http://www.airindia.in | ||
Air India (formerly Air-India, Hindi: एअर इंडिया) is 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 Palam 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.
Contents |
[edit] History
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 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 long haul 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 down town 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 face lifts.
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 non-stop 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.
Air India-Indian Merger, a new mega airline?
In March 2007, it was announced that Air India and the other state-run carrier, Indian Airlines will merge into a new company. [1] The merger of the two airlines would be completed in a phased manner over the next two years. It will result in a mega entity with about 112 aircrafts and place it in the top 30 airlines of the world and top 10 in Asia. The hugely popular, turbaned "Maharaja", presently the mascot of Air India, is likely to remain the mascot of the new airline as well. The new airline will be based on the successful spoke and hub model used by big airlines, where big metros will serve the international routes and other smaller cities will be connected to them by domestic flights. This will allow international access through smaller cities as well with benefits like one time check-in at the start airport itself. The new airline will also be benefited by combined ground operations, parking bays, check-in counters and ticket selling outlets. The low cost subsidiaries of Air India and Indian Airlines — Air India Express and Alliance Air respectively — will also become one, which, as a subsidiary of the new mega airline, will offer low cost travel in select domestic and international sectors. [2]
A European hub with Jat Airways?
The Serbian media reported in early January 2007 that Air India is considering a partnership with Jat Airways which may result in a new venture airline that would feed passengers onto Air India's flights, through Belgrade. Details are still sketchy but it appears that Air India hopes to use Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport as a hub for flights to North America (US and Canada) and possibly Europe. [3]
[edit] Incidents and accidents since 1970
- Air India Flight 855 Ashoka crashed into the Arabian Sea after take-off from Sahar International Airport (now Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport) in Bombay (now Mumbai) on 1 January 1978, killing all on board (213 persons - 190 passengers, 23 crew).
- 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.
- At 07:13 on Sunday June 23, 1985 an explosion in the New Tokyo International Airport (now Narita International Airport) baggage terminal killed two baggage handlers, and injured four. The bomb in that bag was intended for Air India Flight 301 with 177 passengers and crew on board, bound for Bangkok.
- Air India Flight 182 - Kanishka was blown up mid-flight on 23 June 1985 by a bomb. The flight was on the first leg on its 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. After this incident Air-India suspended all services to Canada,which resumed after 20 years in 2005.
[edit] Destinations
- Further information: Air India destinations
[edit] Passenger operations
Air India has 50 (two of them only covered by Air India Express) 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 travellers in select destinations within India. Air-India has duty free sale on board its flights, named 'Sky Bazaar'.
[edit] Passenger Fleet
Air India and its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express operate a fleet consisting of the following 35 aircraft [6] (Last Updated: February 2007):
The Air India fleet consists of the following:
| Type | Total | Passengers (First / Business / Economy) |
Routes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A310 | 20 | 201 (0/20/181) | Short and Medium Haul routes | |
| Boeing 737-800 | 5 (13 orders) |
157 (0/32/125) | Domestic and Medium Haul routes | |
| Boeing 747-300M Combi |
1 | 283 (16/40/227) | Medium and Long Haul routes | |
| Boeing 747-400 | 8 | 435 (16/34/385) | Long Haul routes | |
| Boeing 747-400M Combi |
2 | 283 (16/40/227) | Long Haul routes | |
| Boeing 767-300 | 1 | Long Haul routes | On lease from Flyglobespan | |
| Boeing 777-200 | 1 | Long Haul routes | ||
| Boeing 777-200ER | 3 | Long Haul routes | ||
| Boeing 777-200LR | (8 orders) | Ultra Long Haul routes | ||
| Boeing 777-300ER | (15 orders) | Long Haul routes | ||
| Boeing 787-8 | (27 orders) | Long Haul routes | To be delivered in 2008 | |
| Total | 42 (63 orders) |
Updated February 2007 |
[edit] Ordered Fleet
Air India plans to use the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to replace their Boeing 747-300 aircraft and Boeing 767-300 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 ageing A310-300 aircraft on routes to the Middle East and South-east 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 2007 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.
Air India has also ordered 18 Boeing 737-800 for its low cost subsidiary Air India Express of which 5 have been delivered. [7]
[edit] 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.
[edit] Livery
Air India's livery is mostly painted in red and white colours. The bottoms of the aircraft remain metal and unpainted but the upper portion is given a white background along with the airline's name written in red. The name is in Hindi on one side and in English on the other. The painted on red palace style carvings on the outside of the windows refer to their slogan "your palace in the sky" which is written on the back of the aircraft. Near the noses of Air India aircraft, the air plane is given a name. Most planes are named after powerful Indian kings or landmarks. Finally, the tail is mostly red with again, the carrier's name written in Hindi on one side and English on the other. The airline once proposed a new livery with a golden sun on the tail, however passengers missed the old traditional livery and found the new one less authentic and Indian. Eventually, the airline returned to its regular livery, pleasing customers.
As of January 2007, Air India has given its livery a stunning refresh, making the Rajasthani arches along the windows slightly smaller, extending a stylized cheatline from the vertical tail of the aircraft to the nose, and painting a small portion of the underbelly red. Additionally, engine nacelles are now deep red, and a gold-colored version of the airline's stylized centaur trademark now adorns both the vertical tail and engine nacelles. This livery can be seen on Air India's first 777-237/LR aircraft, registered VT-ALA. [8][9]
With the forthcoming merger of Air India and Indian, it remains to be seen whether any changes be made to the new livery.
[edit] Female pilots
There are 17 female 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 female 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 female Flight Despatcher, Ms Vasanti Kolnad. The Safety Audit on board was also conducted by another woman, Ms Harpreet D. Singh.
[edit] 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.
| Year | Revenues | Profit/(Loss) |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 41,741 | (1,810) |
| 2003 | 63,220 | 923 |
[edit] Awards and recognition
- The Airline entered the Guinness Book of World Records for 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 operation was carried out during Persian Gulf War in 1990 to evacuate Indian expatriates from Kuwait and Iraq.
- The airline received The Mercury Award for the years 1994 and 2003, from the International Flight Catering Association, for finest in-flight catering services.
[edit] Trivia
- The Indian Prime Minister's flight operated by Air India is called AI 001.
[edit] See also
- Air India destinations
- Air-India Express
- List of commercial airlines in India
- Air India (football club)
[edit] External links
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