Indian (airline)

Indian (airline)
IATA ICAO Callsign
IC IAC INDAIR
Founded 1953 (1953)
Commenced operations August 1, 1953 (1953-08-01)
Ceased operations February 26, 2011 (2011-02-26) (merged into Air India)
Hubs
Secondary hubs
Focus cities
Frequent-flyer program Flying Returns
Airport lounge Maharaja Lounge
Subsidiaries
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 Rohit Nandan, CMD
Website http://airindia.in

Indian, formerly Indian Airlines (Indian Airlines Limited from 1993 and Indian Airlines Corporation from 1953 to 1993) 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, and was administered by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. It was one of the two flag carriers of India, the other being Air India. The airline officially merged into Air India on 27 February 2011.

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).[1] The airline operated closely with Air India, India's national carrier. Alliance Air, a fully owned subsidiary of Indian, was renamed Air India Regional.[2]

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.

HS 748 built in India, operated by Indian Airlines, at Bombay Airport in 1974
Airbus A319-100
Airbus A320-200
Airbus A321-200

History

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.

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. Indian Airlines faced tough competition from Jet Airways, Air Sahara (now JetKonnect), East-West Airlines, Skyline NEPC, and ModiLuft. As of 2005, Indian Airlines was the second largest airline in India after Jet Airways while Air Sahara controlled 17% of the Indian aviation industry.

Old red logo of Indian Airlines until the mid-2000s

East-West Airlines, Skyline NEPC and ModiLuft discontinued flight operations but the entry of several low-cost airlines in India, such as SpiceJet, IndiGo, GoAir and others like Kingfisher Airlines along with its low cost arm Kingfisher Red continued to give competition in its market, forcing Indian to cut down 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.[3] Indian Airlines Limited was partly owned by the Government of India (51% of share capital ) through a holding company and has 19,300 employees as of March 2007.[4] 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.

In December 2007, Air India was invited to join the Star Alliance. On 26 February 2011, Indian ceased operating under its own brand and codes with the merger with Air India being complete.[5]

Destinations

Executive class cabin of an Indian Airlines Airbus A320
Further information: Indian destinations

Codeshare agreements

Indian had codeshare agreements with the following airlines:[6]

Fleet

Indian operated an all-Airbus fleet consisting of the A320 family.

Indian Airlines Fleet
Aircraft In Service Passengers Notes
J Y Total
Airbus A319-100 24 14 106 120
8 114 122
0 144 144
Airbus A320-200 28 20 126 146
Airbus A321-200 20 20 152 172
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, designed by National Institute of Design Ahmedabad {cn}, which was one of the best in India for its high level of recall value, will be remembered for a long time. Its aircraft were mainly white, with the belly painted in light metallic grey. Above the windows, "Indian Airlines" was written in English on 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
1970s
1980s
1990s

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.[17]

Year Operating Revenues Operating Profit(Loss)
2002 41,015 (1,347)
2003 46,498 1,251

See also

References

  1. "Indian Airlines to be called 'Indian' now". Rediff.com. 7 December 2005.
  2. "Why one large airline makes economic sense". The Hindu Businessline. 30 June 2005. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
  3. Indian Airlines profit up 48 p.c., The Hindu, 28 Dec 2005
  4. "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 3 April 2007. pp. 92–93.
  5. AI/IC complete merger
  6. Alliance Partner : Code Share Partners
  7. "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
  8. "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
  9. "VT-CJH Accident Description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  10. "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  11. Music. Manorama Online (2014-04-04). Retrieved on 2014-05-21.
  12. 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.
  13. HWH 22 aircrash. Hwh22.it. Retrieved on 2014-05-21.
  14. "Moily's close shave in Mangalore 30 years ago". The Hindu. 22 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
  15. Flight 605 at the Aviation Safety Network
  16. Chiranjeevi 'Weeping With Fear'. greatandhra.com (2011-05-08). Retrieved on 2014-05-21.
  17. "2004 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-08-30.
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