| Indian Airlines came into being with the enactment
of the Air Corporations Act 1953 and was entrusted with the responsibility
of providing air transportation within the country as well as to the
neighbouring countries. Indian Airlines was given the task to assimilate
various dimensions of the eight private airlines, which were nationalized
to provide well coordinated, adequate, safe, efficient and economical
air services. The airlines began its operation on 1st August, 1953.
At the time of nationalization, Indian Airlines inherited a fleet
of 99 aircraft consisting of various types of aircraft which were
gradually replaced by Viscount, F27 and HS748. Nineteen hundred and
sixty four(1964) was the beginning of the jet era in Indian Airlines
when the Caravelle aircraft was inducted into the fleet. Between 1970
and 1982 Indian Airlines started inducting first batch of wide bodied
Airbus A320 aircraft (19 aircraft) in June, 1989. Latest acquisition
in IAL's fleet, the Airbus A319, was inducted in December, 2005.
Today, Indian Airlines, together with its fully owned subsidiary
Alliance Air, has a fleet of 70 aircraft (3 wide bodied airbus A300s,
47 fly-by-wire airbus A320s, 3 Airbus A319s, 11 Boeing 737s, 2 Dornier
Do-228 aircraft and 4 ATR-42. IA has already placed order for 43
new aircraft ( i.e. 19 A319s, 4 A320s & 21 A321s ), and their
induction in IAL is expected to commence w.e.f. November, 2006.
Indian Airlines has been setting the standards for civil aviation
in India since its inception in 1953. It has many firsts to its
credit, including introduction of the wide bodied A300 aircraft
on the domestic network, the fly-by-wire A320, domestic shuttle
service, walk in flights and easy fares. Its unique logo emblazoned
on the tails of all its aircraft has become synonymous with service,
efficiency and reliability.
THE NETWORK : The Airlines' network spans from Kuwait in the
west to Singapore in the East and covers 76 destinations - 58 within
India and 18 abroad. The Indian Airlines international network covers
Kuwait, Oman, UAE, Qatar and Bahrain in West Asia; Thailand, Singapore,
Malaysia and Mayanmar in South East Asia and Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives in the South Asia sub-continent.
PEOPLE : Indian Airlines is presently fully owned by the Government
of India and has a total staff strength of around 19300 employees
including that of Alliance Air. Its annual turnover, together with
that of its subsidiary Alliance Air, is well over Rs.6000 crores(around
US$ 1.4 billion).
Indian Airlines flight operations centre around its four main hubs
the main metro cities of Delhi , Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai. Together
with its subsidiary Alliance Air Indian Airlines carrier a total of
over 7.5 million passengers annually. |
