Indian Airlines

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Indian Airlines, later Indian, was a major

Indian airline based in Delhi and focused
primarily on domestic routes, along with
several international services to
neighbouring countries in Asia. It was
state-owned after merger of eight pre-
Independence domestic airlines and was
administered by the Ministry of Civil
Aviation. Indian was one of the two flag
carriers of India, the other being Air India.
 Indian Airlines

IATA ICAO Callsign

IC IAC INDAIR[1]

Founded 1953

Commenced operations August 1, 1953

Ceased operations February 26, 2011

(merged into Air India)

Hubs Chhatrapati Shivaji

International Airport
Indira Gandhi
International Airport

Secondary hubs Chennai International

Airport
Netaji Subhash Chandra
B I t ti l
 Bose International
Airport

Focus cities Bengaluru International

Airport
Cochin International
Airport
Rajiv Gandhi
International Airport
Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel International
Airport

Frequent-flyer program Flying Returns

Subsidiaries Alliance Air

Fleet size 72 excl.subsidiaries

Destinations 63 excl.subsidiaries

Company slogan Have you tried the new

Air India?
Parent company Air India Limited

Headquarters New Delhi

Key people Ashwani Lohani, CMD

Website http://airindia.in

On 7 December 2005, the airline was

rebranded as Indian for advertising
purposes as a part of a program to revamp
its image in preparation for an initial public
offering (IPO).[2] The airline operated
closely with Air India, India's national
overseas carrier. Alliance Air was a fully
owned subsidiary of Indian.[3]
In 2007, the Government of India
announced that Indian would be merged
into Air India. As part of the merger
process, a new company called the
National Aviation Company of India
Limited (now called Air India Limited) was
established, into which both Air India
(along with Air India Express) and Indian
(along with Alliance Air) would be merged.
Once the merger was completed, the
airline - called Air India - would continue to
be headquartered in Mumbai and would
have a fleet of over 130 aircraft.

History
Merger of regional airlines

Old Deep Orange logo of Indian Airlines until the mid-

2000s

The airline was set up under the Air

Corporations Act, 1953 with an initial
capital of 32 million and started
operations on 1 August 1953. It was
established 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 the United Kingdom with
British Overseas Airways Corporation
(BOAC) and British European Airways
(BEA). Air India took over international
routes and Indian Airlines Corporation
(IAC) took over the domestic and regional
routes. Eight pre-Independence domestic
airlines, Deccan Airways, Airways India,
Bharat Airways, Himalayan Aviation,
Kalinga Airlines, Indian National Airways
and Air Services of India and the Domestic
wing of Air India, were merged to form the
new domestic national carrier Indian
Airlines Corporation. International
operations of Air India Ltd. was taken over
by the newly formed Air India International.
Indian Airlines Corporation inherited a fleet
of 99 aircraft including 74 Douglas DC-3
Dakotas, 12 Vickers Vikings, 3 Douglas
DC-4s and various smaller types from the
seven airlines that made it up.

Early fleet

HS 748 built in India, operated by Indian Airlines, at

Bombay Airport in 1974
An Indian Airlines Sud Aviation Caravelle

Indian Airlines Boeing 737 in the late 1990s

Vickers Viscounts were introduced in 1957

with Fokker F27 Friendships being
delivered from 1961. The 1960s also saw
Hawker Siddeley HS 748s, manufactured
in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited,
join the fleet. The jet age began for IAC
with the introduction of the pure-jet Sud
Aviation Caravelle airliner in 1964,
followed by Boeing 737-200s in the early
1970s. April 1976 saw the first three
Airbus A300 wide-body jets being
introduced. The regional airline, Vayudoot,
which had been established in 1981, was
later reintegrated. By 1990, Airbus A320-
200s were introduced. The economic
liberalisation process initiated by the
Government of India in the early 1990s
ended Indian Airlines' dominance of India's
domestic air transport industry.
Post liberalisation

Till the advent of low-cost carriers Indian Airlines

operated a fleet of Dornier 228 for smaller destinations

The Indian Government liberalised the

private sector in mid 80's and with the
emergence of new competitors, Indian
Airlines faced tough competition from Jet
Airways, Air Sahara, East-West Airlines,
Skyline NEPC, and ModiLuft. Yet till 2005,
Indian Airlines was the second-largest
airline in India after Jet Airways while Air
Sahara controlled 17% of the Indian
aviation industry. During that time few
other domestic carriers like East-West
Airlines, Skyline NEPC and ModiLuft
discontinued their flight operations.

Also during 1993 another government-

established regional feeder airline called
Vayudoot was merged with Indian Airlines
but still operated as a standalone division
until 1997 after which its entire flight
operations were transferred to Indian
Airlines and its employees absorbed into
Indian Airlines and Air India.

Post Low-Cost Carrier era

Since 2003 the rise of low-cost domestic
competitors Air Deccan, SpiceJet, IndiGo,
GoAir and Kingfisher Airlines along with its
low-cost arm Kingfisher Red led Indian to
reduce air-fares. However, as of 2006,
Indian Airlines was still a profit-making
airline; in fact during 2004-2005 it made a
record profit of Rs656.1 million.[4] Indian
Airlines Limited was partly owned by the
Government of India (51% of share capital
) through a holding company and had
19,300 employees as of March 2007.[5] Its
annual turn-over, together with that of its
subsidiary Alliance Air, was well over
40 billions (around US$1 billion). Together
with its subsidiary, Alliance Air, Indian
Airlines carried a total of over 7.5 million
passengers annually.

Air India merger

On 26 February 2011, Indian airlines

ceased operating under its own brand and
codes and completed its merger with Air
India.[6]

Destinations

Executive class cabin of an Indian Airlines Airbus A320

Codeshare agreements

Indian had codeshare agreements with the

following airlines:[7]

Alliance Air
GMG Airlines
Gulf Air
Uzbekistan Airways

Fleet

Airbus A320-200 in its old livery

Airbus A320-200 in the airline's final livery

Indian operated an all-Airbus fleet

consisting of the A320 family.

Indian Airlines Fleet

Passengers
Aircraft In Service Notes
J Y Total

14 106 120

Airbus A319-100 24 8 114 122

0 144 144

Airbus A320-200 28 20 126 146

Airbus A321-200 20 20 152 172 In Air India livery

Total 72

Livery
The aircraft livery used while the company
was called Indian Airlines was one of the
longest in continuous use in the airline
industry. The logo (IA) and the livery were
designed by National Institute of Design
Ahmedabad. Its aircraft were mainly white,
with the belly painted in light metallic grey.
Above the windows, "Indian Airlines" was
written in English on the starboard side
and in Hindi on port side. The tail was
bright orange, with its logo in white. In
most of the aircraft, the logo was also
painted on the engines over its bare metal
colour. Also, when the company was under
the title of Indian Airlines, to celebrate its
50th year of service the airline put the
slogan "50 years of flying" in gold on many
of their aircraft.

After the name change to Indian, the

company's aircraft sported a new look
inspired by the Sun Temple at Konark in
Odisha. The tail of their aircraft had a
partial blue wheel since practically 3/4 of
the remainder is cut off. The wheel is over
an orange background with the carrier's
name "Indian" written in English on one
side of the fuselage, and in Hindi on the
other. On 15 May 2007, the Government of
India released the new merger livery, which
was sent to Boeing in Seattle to repaint all
the new fleet coming into the new Air
India. Most of the old fleets of Air India
and Indian Airlines have also been painted
in the new livery.

Service

In-flight meal

Indian operated short-haul Airbus A320

family aircraft. It offered 2 classes on
most sectors - Economy Class and
Executive class. Economy class had a
typical 3-3 seating on the Airbus aircraft.
Passengers were offered complimentary
meals. The Executive class seat
configuration was 2-2 with a generous
recline. Meals served were more lavish.

Incidents and accidents

1960s
On 15 November 1961, Vickers Viscount
VT-DIH was damaged beyond economic
repair when the co-pilot retracted the
undercarriage during landing at
Ratmalana Airport, Colombo, Ceylon.[8]
On 11 September 1963, Vickers
Viscount VT-DIO crashed 51 kilometres
(32 mi) south of Agra, killing all 18
people on board.[9]
On 18 February 1969, Douglas DC-3 VT-
CJH crashed on take-off from Jaipur –
Sanganer Airport on a scheduled
passenger flight. The aircraft was
overloaded and take-off was either
downwind or with a crosswind. All 30
people on board survived.[10]
On 21 April 1969, a Fokker F27
Friendship plane crashed in a
thunderstorm while crossing East
Pakistani (now Bangladeshi) airspace
on its flight from Agartala to Calcutta,
killing all 44 people on board. [11]
1970s
On 29 August 1970, a Fokker F27 flew
into high terrain near Silchar shortly
after takeoff, killing the five crew
members and 34 passengers.
On 30 January 1971, a Fokker F27 on a
scheduled flight from Srinagar to
Jammu was hijacked to Lahore by
Ashraf and Hashim Qureshi, two
Kashmiri terrorists. Passengers were
returned to India on 2 February, but the
hijackers destroyed the aircraft. India
and Pakistan, blaming each other's
intelligence services, each ban the other
country's overflights and India-Pakistan
flights until 1976.
On 9 August 1971, Vickers Viscount VT-
DIX was damaged beyond economic
repair when it overran the runway at
Jaipur Airport. The aircraft was landed
with a tailwind on a wet runway.[12]
On 9 December 1971, a Hawker Siddeley
HS 748, near Chinnamanur was
descending into Madurai when it flew
into high terrain about 50 mi (80 km)
from the airport, killing the four crew
members and all 17 passengers. The
accident occurred in reduced visibility
during daylight hours.[13][14][15]
On 11 August 1972, a Fokker F27, at
New Delhi lost altitude and crashed after
aborting a landing. The four crew
members and the 14 passengers were
killed.
On 31 May 1973, Flight 440, a Boeing
737 (registered VT-EAM), crashed and
burned during landing at New Delhi,
killing five of the seven crew and 43 of
the 58 passengers.
On 12 October 1976, Flight 171, a Sud
Aviation SE 210 Caravelle, had its right
engine catch fire shortly after takeoff
from Bombay. The crew attempted to
return, but fuel flow to the engine was
not stopped. When the fire spread
through the fuselage and the hydraulic
system failed, the aircraft controls failed
before landing. All six crew members
and their 89 passengers were killed.
On 4 August 1979, a Hawker Siddeley
HS 748 aircraft was approaching
Bombay airport at night and in poor
weather when it flew into high terrain
approximately 6 mi (9.7 km) from the
airport, killing the four crew and their 41
passengers.
1980s
On 10 May 1980, a Boeing 737-2A8, en
route near Rampurhat experienced
severe turbulence that killed two of the
132 passengers.
On 19 August 1981, Flight 557, a HAL
748 VT-DXF overshot the 5,783 feet
(1,763 m) runway at Mangalore Airport
in wet weather. The aircraft came to a
halt just beyond the runway edge. While
there were no fatalities, the aircraft was
damaged beyond repair and was written
off. One of the passengers on board
was Veerappa Moily, the then Finance
Minister of Karnataka.[16]
On 29 September 1986, an Airbus
A300B2-1C (registered VT-ELV) overrun
the runway at Chennai International
Airport during aborted takeoff caused by
bird strike. None of 196 people on board
were injured but the aircraft was
damaged beyond repair.[17]
On 19 October 1988, Flight 113, a
Boeing 737 (registered VT-EAH) hit an
electric mast 5 mi (8.0 km) out on
approach to Ahmedabad in poor
visibility, killing the six crew members
and all but two of the 129
passengers.[18]
1990s
On 14 February 1990, Flight 605, an
Airbus A320, crashed on final approach
at HAL Airport, Bangalore. 92 people on
board were killed and 54 survived.[19]
On 16 August 1991, Flight 257, Boeing
737 (registered VT-EFL) crashed on its
descent into Imphal, killing all 69
occupants. The flight operating on the
Calcutta-Imphal sector crashed into
Thangjing hills, about 20 nautical miles
(40 km) south-west of the Imphal
airport. The aircraft had taken off from
Calcutta and began a descent into
Imphal airport with the visibility at that
time being seven kilometers. However,
the aircraft lost contact with Imphal
airport on the Instrument Landing
System. The search and rescue efforts
were hampered by bad weather
conditions and a slushy terrain. The
probable cause of the accident was
attributed to an "error on the part of the
Pilot-in-Command in not adhering to the
operational flight.[20]
On 26 April 1993, Flight 491, Boeing 737
(registered VT-ECQ) started its takeoff
from Aurangabad's runway 09 in hot and
humid temperatures. After lifting off
almost at the end of the runway, it
impacted heavily with a lorry on a
highway at the end of the runway. The
left main landing gear, left engine
bottom cowling and thrust reverser
impacted the left side of the truck at a
height of nearly seven feet from the level
of the road. Thereafter the aircraft hit
the high tension electric wires nearly
3 km North-East of the runway and hit
the ground, causing 63 Injuries and 55
fatalities.
On 15 November 1993, Indian Airlines
Flight 440, an Airbus A300 (registered
VT-EDV)executed a missed approach at
Hyderabad's Begumpet Airport due to
poor visibility, but the flaps failed to
retract. After trying to solve the problem
while flying in the vicinity of Hyderabad,
the crew eventually diverted the aircraft
to Chennai. The delay in diverting, and
the need to fly slower due to the
extended flaps, resulted in the aircraft
running out of fuel on the way. The
aircraft force-landed in a paddy field and
was damaged beyond repair. All 262
people on board survived. Telugu actors
Chiranjeevi and Venkatesh survived this
crash attracting widespread
attention.[21]
On 24 December 1999, Flight 814, an
Airbus A300B2-101 (registered VT-EDW)
was hijacked just after taking off from
Kathmandu, Nepal to Delhi. The plane
flew around different points in the
subcontinent and finally landed in
Kandahar, Afghanistan, as officials of
the government of India and the Taliban
negotiated. One passenger was killed
and some were released. On 31
 December 1999, the rest of the
hostages were freed in exchange for the
release of Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar,
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and
Maulana Masood Azhar.

Financials
Given below is a chart of trend of
profitability of Indian Airlines as published
in the 2004 annual report by Ministry of
Civil Aviation with figures in millions of
Indian Rupees.[22]

Year Operating Revenues Operating Profit(Loss)

2002 Rs. 41,015 million (Rs. 1,347 million)

2003 Rs. 46,498 million Rs. 1,251 million

See also
 Air India Air Transport Services
Airline Allied Services

References
1. "Indian Airlines Fleet Details and
History" . www.planespotters.net.
Retrieved 21 March 2018.
2. "Indian Airlines to be called 'Indian'
now" . Rediff.com. 7 December 2005.
3. "Why one large airline makes
economic sense" . The Hindu
Businessline. 30 June 2005. Archived
from the original on 30 September
2007. Retrieved 30 July 2007.
4. Indian Airlines profit up 48 p.c. , The
Hindu, 28 Dec 2005
5. "Directory: World Airlines". Flight
International. 3 April 2007. pp. 92–93.
6. AI/IC complete merger Archived 1
March 2011 at the Wayback Machine
7. "Welcome to Flying Returns" .
www.flyingreturns.co.in. Retrieved
21 March 2018.
8. "Accident description" . Aviation Safety
Network. Retrieved 2 October 2009.
9. "Accident description" . Aviation Safety
Network. Retrieved 6 October 2009.
10. "VT-CJH Accident Description" .
Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved
23 January 2011.
11. Aviation-Safety.net
12. "Accident description" . Aviation Safety
Network. Retrieved 8 October 2009.
13. Music . Manorama Online (2014-04-
04). Retrieved on 2014-05-21.
14. The Liberation Times :
Commemorating 30 Years since
India's Greatest Victory Archived 15
October 2012 at the Wayback
Machine. Bharat-rakshak.com.
Retrieved on 2014-05-21.
15. HWH 22 aircrash Archived 29 July
2013 at the Wayback Machine.
Hwh22.it. Retrieved on 2014-05-21.
16. "Moily's close shave in Mangalore 30
years ago" . The Hindu. 22 May 2010.
Retrieved 24 June 2010.
17. "ASN Accident Description" . Aviation
Safety Network. Retrieved
17 December 2016.
18. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident
Boeing 737-2A8 VT-EAH Ahmedabad
Airport (AMD)" . aviation-safety.net.
Retrieved 30 June 2019.
19. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident
Airbus A320-231 VT-EPN Bangalore-
Hindustan Airport (BLR)" . aviation-
safety.net. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
20. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident
Boeing 737-2A8 Advanced VT-EFL
Imphal Municipal Airport (IMF)" .
aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 30 June
2019.
21. Chiranjeevi 'Weeping With Fear' .
greatandhra.com (2011-05-08).
Retrieved on 2014-05-21.
 22. "2004 Annual Report" (PDF). Archived
from the original (PDF) on 28
November 2010. Retrieved 30 August
2010.

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