Air India
Air India, one of the world's largest airlines nominated for the OAG best airline award in Asia/Middle-east for year 2002, is the Flag carrier of India. It is one of the two state-owned airlines of India, the other being Indian Airlines. Its IATA designator is AI. The main hub of the airline is the Mumbai Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The Airline operates flights to a large number destinations around the world through direct and code-shared flights.
History
The airline was founded by J. R. D. Tata in 1932 as Tata Airlines. In 1933, the first full year of its operations, Tata Airlines flew 160,000 miles, carried 155 passengers and 10.71 tonnes of mail. Tata Airlines was converted into a public sector company under the name of Air India in August 1946.
In 1947, Air India signed an agreement with the then Government of India to operate international services under the name Air India International. On March 8, 1948, the new name was incorporated. Three months later on June 8, Air India International inaugurated its international services with a weekly flight from Bombay to London via Cairo and Geneva. On January 21, 1950, Air India International inaugurated a fortnightly Bombay-Nairobi service via Aden.
The airline was nationalized in 1953.
In 1960, Air India (International) flights entered USA for the first time starting with flights to New York. In 1962, the word 'international' was dropped. In 1996, Air India started services to Chicago, USA followed by services to New Jersey, USA in 2002. Service to Los Angeles, USA commenced on June 11, 2004.
The direct flight to Los Angeles from Mumbai was commenced on June 11, 2004
Awards and Recognitions
The Airline entered the Guinness Book of World Records - The largest evacuation by a civil airliner, involving evacuation of over 111,000 people from Amman to Mumbai - a distance of 4,117 km, by operating 488 flights in association with Indian Airlines, during August 13 - October 11, 1990, lasting a total of 59 days.
The airline received The Mercury Award for the years 1994 and 2003, from the International Flight catering association, for finest in-flight catering services.
Air India's security department became the first aviation security organisation in the world to acquire ISO 9002-1994 certification(January 31, 2001).
The Department of Engineering, Air India, has obtained the ISO 9002 for its Engineering facilities for meeting international standards.
Women Pilots
Air-India is one of the few airlines to have women pilots. Currently, there are 17 women pilots on its rolls, including five trainee pilots.
On the occasion of the World Women's Day, March 3rd 2004, the airline operated an "All women Flight" from Mumbai to Singapore. Capt. Rashmi Miranda, who became Air-India's first woman Commander in November 2003 and Capt. Kshmata Bajpai, piloted the flight, an Airbus A310 aircraft. The flight despatch activities relating to this flight was also coordinated by a woman Flight Despatcher, Ms Vasanti Kolnad. The Safety Audit on board was also conducted by another woman, Ms Harpreet D. Singh.
Fleet
As of July 1st, 2004, the airline has the following fleet:
In addition to the above, the management board of the airline has decided to use airplanes on dry lease commencing March 30, 2004. rbu
The Logo and mascot
As it symbolises movement and speed, the Centaur, a stylised version of Sagittarius, was selected as Air-India's logo.
Air India's mascot, the Maharaja, is a turban clad king with over-sized moustache and a royal dress. "He may look like royalty, but he isn't royal" - these are the words of Bobby Kooka , the man who conceived the Maharajah. This figure first made his appearance in Air-India way back in 1946, when Bobby Kooka as Air-India's Commercial Director and Umesh Rao, an artist with J.Walter Thompson Ltd., Mumbai, together created the Maharajah.
Passenger operations
Air India currently caters approximately 44 destinations throughought the world. It also has code-sharing agreements with many international airlines to expand coverage. The airline ferried 3.39 million passengers during the financial year ending March 2003 and achieved a load factor of 71.6 per cent, substantially higher than the 66 per cent load factor recorded in the preceding year. The airline strives to achieve the best of in-flight standards and receives a 4 star rating for cabin safety procedures from skytrax airline quality review. Three classes of seats are offered - First class, Executive class and Economy class. Flat bed seats are offered for first class passengers. The airline also offers frequent flyer miles alone and in collaboration with many of its alliances. The airline also offers luxury lounges in its ground terminals for its First and Executive class travellers in select destinations within India.
===Sky Bazaar===
Air-India has duty free sale on board its flights effective June 1, 2003 named 'sky bazaar', meaning Market in the sky.
Cargo operations
In 1954, Air-India commenced its freighter operations with a DC3 Dakota aircraft, giving Air-India the distinction of being the first Asian airline to operate freighters. Currently, the airline operates regular Cargo flights to many destinations of the world. The airline also has ground truck-transportation arrangements on select destinations.
An active member of IATA, Air-India carries all types of cargo including dangerous goods (hazardous materials) and live animals, provided such shipments are tendered according to IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations and IATA Live Animals Regulations, respectively.
At the warehouse in Mumbai, Air India has developed an indigenous system of inventory management for cargo handling of import/export functions. This takes care of the entire management of cargo, supports Electronic Data Interface (EDI) messages with Indian Customs and replaces to a great extent existing paper correspondence between Customs, Airlines, and the custodians. This also replaces manual handling and binning of cargo at the warehouse in Mumbai by Air India.
Future plans
Air-India has registered a profit of Rs 133.85 crores (Approx USD 30 Millions) in the financial year ending March 31, 2003, after taking into account the deferred tax benefit. In the year 2002, it recorded a net profit of Rs 15.44 crores. Air-India earned a total revenue of Rs 5658 crores (Approx USD 1.26 Billions) in 2002-03 as against Rs 5017 crores (Approx USD 1.1 Billions) in the previous year. The airline has ambitious plans to expand its network and acquire new aircraft. The newly elected Government of India has appointed Mr.Praful Patel, as the Minister for Civil Aviation who plans to make the airline " A Maharaja of the Skies ".
Tragedies
Since 1970, Air India has sufferred the following tragic events:
Bombay, India, January 1st 1978. Due to an Altitude detector error, the plane crashed in the sea shortly after takeoff, killing all 190 passengers and 23 crew.
Bombay, India, June 21st 1982. After an attempted take-off, the aircraft tried to revert back to the airport due to bad weather. The aircraft then ran off of the runway and broke up. Two of the 12 crew members and 15 of the 99 passenger were killed.
Atlantic Ocean, near the Irish coast, June 23rd 1985. Bomb explosion on-board. The aircraft broke up in flight and crashed into the sea. All 307 passengers and 22 crew were killed.
External links
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