Indian Airlines
Indian Airlines is India's state owned primarily domestic airline. It uses the IATA designator IC.
| Contents |
History
It was set up on June 15, 1953 after legislation came into force to nationalise the entire airline industry in India. Two new national airlines were to be formed along the same lines as happened in Britain with BOAC and BEA. Air India International took over international routes and Indian Airlines Corporation took over the domestic and regional routes.
Eight former independent domestic airlines; Deccan Airways, Airways - India, Bharat Airways, Himalayan Aviation, Kalinga Air Lines, Indian National Airways, Air India, Air Services of India, were merged to form the new domestic national carrier. Indian Airlines Corporation inherited a large fleet of 74 DC-3 Dakotas, 12 Vikings, 3 DC-4s and various smaller types from the 8 airlines that made it up. Viscounts were introduced in 1957 with Fokker F-27 Friendships being delivered from 1961.
The jet age began for IAC with the introduction of the pure-jet Caravelle airliner in 1964. The 1960s also saw Hawker Siddeley 748 twins, manufactured in India. In the 1970s, Airbus A300 wide-body jets were introduced. Boeing 737-200s were also used. By 1990, Airbus A320s were in use.
Recently, competition on internal routes has been growing with the formation of a number of private airlines, the most successful of which has been Jet Airways.
Destinations
It flies to 64 domestic and 16 international destinations offering 35,000 seats per day and is India's largest airline. The Indian Airlines international network covers the following destinations :
- West Asia
- South East Asia
- South Asian Sub-Continent
It is fully owned by the Government of India and employs around 19,600 employees. Its annual turn-over, together with that of its subsidiary Alliance Air, is well over Rs.4000 crores (around US$ 1 billion). Together with its subsidiary Alliance Air, Indian Airlines carries a total of over 7.5 million passengers annually.
Fleet
- Airbus A300 - 4
- Airbus A320 - 41
- Boeing 737 - 11 (Mostly operated by Alliance Air)
- Doriner D-228 - 2
- ATR 42 - 4
Livery
Indian Airlines aircraft livery is one of the longest in terms of time. It's aircraft are mainly White. The belly is in bare metal color. Above the windows, "Indian Airlines" is written in English on one side and Hindi on other. The tail is bright Orange in color with it's symbol in white (essentially the reverse of it's logo). In most of the aircrafts, the logo is also painted on the engines over it's bare metal color.
1999 hijack
On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1999: Indian Airlines Flight 814, which had just took off from Kathmandu, Nepal to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, India was hijacked. The plane flew around different points in South Asia and Southwest Asia as officials of the government of India and the Taliban negotiate. One passenger was killed and some were released. On December 31, 1999, the rest of the hostages on Flight 814 were freed.
External Links
- Indian Airlines Site (http://indian-airlines.nic.in)
Categories: Transportation in India | Companies of India | Airlines