- Tata Airlines
Tata Airlines, a division of Tata Sons Ltd. (now
Tata Group ) was founded byJ. R. D. Tata in 1932 as Tata Sons. It was started as a mail service over the route Karachi to Bombay and on south to Madras.The beginning
On 15 October 1932, J. R. D. Tata himself flew a single-engined
De Havilland Puss Moth carrying air mail (postal mail ofImperial Airways ) fromKarachi 's Drigh Road Aerodrome toBombay 's Juhu Airstrip viaAhmedabad . The aircraft continued toMadras viaBellary piloted by formerRoyal Air Force pilotNevill Vintcent . [http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/il.htm]Tata Airlines initially consisted of one Puss Moth aircraft, one
Leopard Moth , one palm-thatched shed, one whole time pilot assisted by Tata and Vintcent, one part-time engineer and two apprentice-mechanics.Intial service included weekly airmail service with a Puss Moth aircraft between
Karachi andMadras viaAhmedabad andBombay , covering over 1,300 miles. In its very first year of operation, Tata Airlines flew 160,000 miles, carrying 155 passengers and 10.71 ton of mail. [http://www.airindia.ch/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19&Itemid=45] In the next few years, Tata Airlines continued to rely for its revenue on the mail contract with the Government of India for carriage of surcharged mail, including a considerable quantity of overseas mail brought toKarachi byImperial Airways . The same year, Tata Airlines launched its longest domestic flight -Mumbai toTrivandrum with a six-seaterMiles Merlin . [http://medind.nic.in/iab/t07/s1/iabt07s1p95.pdf]Re-christened
In 1938 it was re-christened as Tata Air Services and later same year was renamed as Tata Air Lines. By this time Delhi and Colombo were also serviced. [http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/il.htm]
Post World Warr II
Following the end of
World War II (when Calcutta was added to the network), regular commercial service was restored in India and Tata Airlines became a public limited company on 29 July 1946 under the name Air India. [http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/il.htm]Change in guard
In March 1948, after the
Independence of India , 49% of the airline was acquired by theGovernment 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 designatedflag carrier under the name Air India International. [http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/ai.htm]Nationalization
In 1953 all airlines of India including "Air India" and "Indian National Airways" were nationalized to form Indian Airlines Corporation.
Time Line
* [http://home.airindia.in/SBCMS/Webpages/Time-line-1932-1940.aspx?MID=196# 1932-1940]
* [http://home.airindia.in/SBCMS/Webpages/Time-line-1941-1950.aspx?MID=196# 1941-1950]
=Gallery of Tata Air Lines' airline timetableee also
*
Air India References
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