Indian Airlines History
The erstwhile Indian Airlines Limited or currently known as Indian, was India’s first state owned domestic airline. Indian Airlines was set up under the aegis of federal Union Ministry of Civil Aviation and based in New Delhi. Its main bases were the international airports in Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and New Delhi. It has now been merged with Air India for corporate purposes, though for now, continues to issue its own tickets. According to the Air Corporations Act of 1953, two new national airlines were to be formed in India – Air India took over the international routes and Indian Airlines Corporation (IAC) took over the domestic and regional routes. Seven former independent domestic airlines: Deccan Airways, Airways-India, Bharat Airways, Himalayan Aviation, Kalinga Air Lines, Indian National Airways, Air Services of India, were merged to form the new domestic national carrier – Indian Airlines Corporation and inherited a fleet of 99 aircrafts. Till 1990, Indian Airlines enjoyed a monopoly in the Indian air space. However, The economic liberalisation process initiated by the Government of India ended Indian Airlines' dominance of India's domestic air transport industry. Indian Airlines faced tough competition from private airlines like Jet Airways, Air Sahara, East-West Airlines and ModiLuft. Indian Airlines or Indian is completely owned by the Government of India and together, with its subsidiary Alliance Air, Indian carries a total of over 7.5 million passengers annually. Indian joined hands with Air India in 2007 and are collectively known as Air India. Indian is referred to all the domestic flights, while Air India refers to all the international flights. The new airline's headquarters is stationed in Mumbai, and have a fleet of more than130 aircrafts. Alliance Air and Air India Express have emerged as the new airline's low-cost arm. After successful completion of the Air India - Indian Airlines/ Indian merger, the airline will be accepted as a member of the Star Alliance, the largest airline alliance, backed by Luftansa. The airline will join the Star Alliance in 2008.
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