Indian Aviation

Past

India's first air service was inaugurated in 1932 when J.R.D. Tata landed on a mud flat at Juhu in Bombay carrying mail from Karachi on a de Havilland Puss Moth. The planes initially used by Tata Airlines were too small to carry passengers on a regular basis. In 1946 Tata Air Lines became a joint stock company called Air-India Ltd, providing domestic flights. Air-India International, 49 per cent government owned and 25 per cent owned by Tatas, made its maiden flight on June 8th, 1948 from Bombay to London via Cairo and Geneva using Malabar Princess, a Lockheed Super L-749 Constellation. The Malabar Princess tragically struck the face of Mont Blanc on November 3rd 1950 while on descent into Geneva from Bombay via Cairo killing 40 passengers and 8 crew members. 16 years later another ill-fated Air-India aircraft, the Kanchenjunga (a Boeing 707 jetliner), struck Mont Blanc in almost the same spot on January 24, 1966 enroute to New York city while descending into Geneva.

After the Second World War as many as eleven private domestic airlines operated in India. The supply-demand was not in balance as the Indian aviation market was still in a fledgling state. Many of these airlines were making heavy losses as a result of which the government decided to nationalise the airlines by forming one domestic carrier and one international flag carrier. In 1953 Air-India International (name truncated to Air-India in 1962) became a public sector corporation along with Indian Airlines Corporation (catering to domestic and regional routes). Eight erstwhile private airlines were merged to form Indian Airlines Corp., namely Deccan Airways, Bharat Airways, Air India, Himalayan Aviation, Kalinga Airlines, Indian National Airways, Air Services of India and Air-Services India. The fleet was fairly big consisting of 73 DC-3 Dakotas, 12 Vikings, 3 DC-4s and some other smaller aircraft.

Image above right: K.L.M (Royal Dutch Air Lines) Douglas DC-2 (PH-AKK Koetling) flying over Jodhpur. K.L.M used 14-seater DC-2's in the 1930's on the Amsterdam-Batavia route with stops at Jodhpur, Allahabad and Calcutta airfields. K.L.M. started the Amsterdam-Batavia (at the time part of the Dutch East Indies) service in 1924 (non-scheduled) with a single-engined 8-seater Fokker F.VII.

A very interesting collection of colourful airline timetable images of the past (provided by Airline Timetable Images)

Present Civil Aviation Scenario

Kolkata NSCB Airport - landsideThe Indian civil aviation industry has witnessed 20 to 30 per cent growth rates during the last few years. Growth has now slowed down considerably due to the ever increasing cost of ATF (especially in India where ATF is heavily taxed). A slew of low-cost airlines now compete with the more established operators. Aviation infrastructure has not kept pace with the increased traffic and passenger volumes. India's main airports are currently facing capacity constraints but are in the process of being modernised and expanded with additional capacity. Privatisation of the two major airports at Mumbai and Delhi has been completed. Two new greenfield airports have opened at Bangalore and Hyderabad. Another major change as a result of deregulation of the commercial aviation sector in India has been the option for private airlines to fly overseas after completing five years of operations in the domestic market. Jet Airways is presently the sole private airline with any substantial international traffic.

The civil aviation scenery in India has evolved in many ways. Whereas prior to 1992, when the two public sector airlines, namely Air-India and Indian Airlines enjoyed a monopoly in the domestic sector, today some eight airlines are competing for a market share in the rapidly growing domestic market. In the early nineties, soon after deregulation, many of the newly established airlines went bust, including Modiluft, Damania (later Skyline NEPC), Gujarat Airways, East West, UBAir and VIF. Passenger service has improved and is generally speaking of world standard now or even better. Less than adequate airport and traffic control infrastructure, which is the main obstacle to future growth, will have to be improved and expanded for the industry to sustain longterm growth. Increasining fare rates may also have a negative impact on growth as rock bottom fares are no longer sustainable to run a profitable airline. Aviation fuel costs in India are much higher compared to comparable costs elsewhere.

Indian airlines have lately placed a record number of aircraft orders. As an example, ATR received firm orders for 90 new aircraft in 2005 of which India's (Kingfisher Airlines and Air Deccan) share was 55 per cent. Boeing has estimated that India will require some 850 aircraft over the next two decades to cater to the growing demand for air travel.

The Delhi-Mumbai sector is the sixth busiest (as at September 2007) air route in the world with some 740 weekly inbound and outbound flights.

The government owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) manages 126 airports and civil enclaves out of a total of 449 airports and airstrips found in India. Indian airports handled 65.7 million domestic and 24.8 million international passengers in 2006. Total passenger throughput grew to 113.7 million in 2007. A record 1.4 million tons of cargo in the year ended March 2006. Domestic scheduled operators carried a record 43.3 million passengers in 2007.

Foreign air carriers operated 763 charter flights to Goa (India's main destination for international charter flights) in 2007-08.

India's commercial airline fleet is currently among the top ten nations in the world.


Above pic: Kolkata NSCB (Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose) Airport - landside view of the domestic terminal (2001). While the airport's domestic terminal was very spacious and modern at the time of its opening in the mid-nineties, its capacity is no longer adequate for the recent record increases in domestic traffic. The adjacent international terminal built in the early 70s is more cramped but is usually adequate for the relatively small volume of international traffic handled by the airport.

A commuter rail link connects the Kolkata's airport with the Sealdah rail terminus in central Kolkata, but is not very convenient as train frequency is abysmally low. This once relatively quiet airport has seen a considerable increase in air traffic and now handles over 200 daily aircraft movements. International traffic is relatively small considering the size of Kolkata (among the three largest metros in India). The secondary runway, also used as a taxiway for the main runway, is being extended to facilitate increased number of aircraft takeoffs and landings. Construction of a new integrated terminal with a designed capacity to handle 20 m passengers per annum has commenced. The terminal is planned to be ready in 2011.


Busiest domestic nonstop point-to-point air routes (No. of flights on a single day - 24.3.06)