Anil's Blog: Air India - Over the years

Air India - Over the years

Air India started as Tata Airlines. It became Air India after the world war two and later was nationalised. in the mean time christened Air India International and subsequently Air India. de Havillan Puss Moth was the earliest aircraft that entered the Tata Airlines fleet.

From 1954 on, Air India started taking the deliveries of L-1049 Super Constellation and in less than a decade entered the Jet Age with the induction of Boeing 707's into its fleet. Each aircraft is named after a Hindu Emperor or Place or Deity with a great historic importance. Its first B-707 was named 'Gauri Shankar'.

The 1960's were the golden years for Air India.

It was the first airline in the world that had an all-jet fleet.

Begninning in the 70's Air India started taking the deliveries of the Boeing 747-200B aircrafts.

The first 747 was named 'Emperor Asoka'. It was the same time when the new livery was introduced - Palace in the Sky. The exterior of the windows painted symbolic of the Indo - Sacarenic Architecture.

The belly of the aircraft's fuselage had no paint while the other half of the aircraft was painted white. Two red parallel lines beginning from the nose on the top and bottom ran along the fuselage till the ending in the sleek livery on the tail. Most aircraft's noses were painted black.

By the late 80's, Air India became the largest operator of Airbus A310's. Also, in 1988, Air India took the delivery of B747-300 Combi aircraft, with a passenger cargo mixed configuration.

In 1994, Air India took the first delivery of the Boeing 747-400 flying non stop between NYC and New Delhi.

Whilst the airline carried on the international flying business, domestic air services were handled by Indian Airlines, established in 1953 with a fully owned subsidiary named Alliance Air.

Indian airlines, until a couple of years before its merger with Air India had in continuous use its previous livery for one of the longest periods in the Aviation Industry. It grew as an inseparable brand for domestic travel in India. Indian Airlines meant 'Domestic Services' while Air India was synonymous with 'International'. Also, Indian Airlines
had an extensive network connecting
Indian cities with the gulf.

The new livery of Indian Airlines was released by the Government of India sometime in 2007, rebranding Indian Airlines as Indian and the tail was painted with a blue spoke partial wheel on an orange background(as you can see in the picture). Like Air India too, Indian Airlines until rebranding sported a bare metal belly. The new livery' blue wheel was also painted on the engine cowlings of the aircrafts.

On 26 February 2011, Indian ceased operating under its own brand and codes with the merger with Air India being complete.

Post merger

With the merger, a considerable number of changes were incorporated into the fleet, of both Air India and the erstwhile Indian Airlines. Inflight entertainment just got better with a TV screen attached to every seat. Earlier, Air India had very limited entertainment facilities, and Indian Airlines had none at all.