Indian Airways At A Glance

An airway is defined as the corridor that connects one specified location to another at a specified altitude, along which an aircraft that meets the requirements of the airway may be flown.

First in Airways:

• First commercial civil aviation flight took place between Allahabad and Naini in 1911 – 6 miles .This is considered to be the world’s first airmail service
• First International flight introduced  between  London -Karachi – Delhi  flight in 1912
• First flight flew between Karachi and Bombay by JRD Tata In 1932
• First civil aviation airport was formed in 1928 at Juhu, Mumbai
• India’s first airline is Imperial Airways
• First aircraft the Harlow trainer was rolled out for test flight in 1941
• First Director general of Civil Aviation(DGCA)-Lt.Col. Shelmerdine in 1931
• First International services flight between Bombay  and London via Cairo and Geneva started in 1948
• First Civil Helicopter Services introduced in 1953
• East-West Airlines was the first scheduled private airline in 1991
• IC 814 flight of Indian Airlines was hijacked to Kandahar in 1999
• Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata was the India’s first licensed pilot in 1929.
• Sarla Thakral. Sarla Thakralwas the first Indian woman pilot license in 1936
• First Boeing all-women crew flight commanded by Captain Saudamini Deshmukh  on September 1989
• First youngest pilot Captain Nivedita Bhasin(26) of Indian Airlines in 1990
• First woman commercial pilot Prem Mathur  flying for Deccan Airways in 1948
• First Asian airline Boeing 707–420(Gauri Shankar) inducted  a jet aircraft in its flee in 1960
• First national level private airline East West Airlines to operate in the country after 37 years in 1990

Some Important facts :

India crowned world’s fastest growing aviation market in 2015 by the International Air Transport Association (IATA)

• India is the ninth largest civil aviation market in the world with a market size of $16 billion and aims to become the 3rd largest market by 2020
• Bangalore is the aviation manufacturing hub in India(65%)
• Three largest airline in India in terms of passengers – IndiGo, Jet Airways and Indian Airlines
• Air Corporations Act was passed by Indian Parliament in 1953
• International Airports Authority of India (IAAI) was constituted in 1972
• National Airports Authority was constituted in 1986.
• Eight companies were in service within and outside the country at the time of independence, namely Tata Airlines, Indian National Airways, Air service of India, Deccan Airways, Ambica Airways, Bharat Airways and Mistry Airwa
• Air India is commended in the Guinnes Book of World Records for the largest evacuation effort by a civil before the first Gulf War in 1990
• India’s first ever budget airline Air Deccan begins operations on 25th August. The first flight is from Bangalore to Mangalore.
• Indian Airlines was rebranded as Indian in 2005
• The Regional Airlines Policy was announced in 2007
• The path breaking Greenfield Airport Policy of the Government was announced in 2008
• AERA was established to regulate the economic aspects of airports. It is an autonomous body set up by an Act of Parliament in 2009
• Airport Economic Regulatory Authority Appellate Tribunal (AERAAT) was established in 2010
• The real ‘Airlift’: Air India’s rescue mission in Kuwait won it a place in Guinness Records in 2016

List of Hijackings:

• Indian Airlines plane Fokker F27 Friendship aircraft named Ganga on its way from Srinagar to Jammu was hijacked by Hashim Quereshi and Ashraf Quereshi of the JKLF on 1971 January 30
• Delhi-Jaipur-Mumbai flight (IC 491) was commandeered and taken to Lahore where the hijackers were overpowered on September 10,1976.
• Devendra Nath Pandey and Bhola Nath Pandey hijacked Indian Airlinesflight IC-410 as it flew over Aligarh, to protest the imprisonment of Indira Gandhi by the Janata Party government on December 20, 1978.
• An Indian airlines plane Jetliner (Boeing 737) on flight from Srinagar to Delhi is hijacked by Sikh Terrorists and taken to Lahore on September 29, 1981
• Boeing 737 a scheduled flight from Bombay to New Delhi hijacked on August 22, 1982
• An Indian Airlines flight from Jodhpur to Delhi was hijacked. The hijacked plane landed at Amritsar in 1982
• 1984 July 6 – An Indian Airlines jet carrying 255 passengers and a crew of nine on flight from Srinagar to New Delhi was hijacked and forced to land in Lahore, Pakistan.The hijackers were reported to be armed with pistols, daggers and explosives. The hijackers’ surrender to Pakistan authorities ended a 17- hour ordeal for the plane’s passengers and crew, who remained aboard the A-300 Airbus in suffocating heat, with little food and water.
• An Indian Airlines flight IC 405 from Pathankot to Lahore was hijacked between Srinagar and Mumbai on July 1984
• Seven young hijackers demanded an Indian Airlines jetliner, on a domestic flight from Chandigarh to Srinagar to be flown to the United States. The plane was taken to Lahore and then to Karachi and finally to Dubai where the defense minister of UAE negotiated the release of the passengers on 1984 August 24
• TheAir India 182 Kanishka from Toronto via Montreal and London to New Delhi exploded off the coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985 by  Inderjit Singh Reyat
• A Patna-Lucknow-Delh iIndian Airlines flight IC-810 was hijacked by Satish Chandra Pandey on Jan 22, 1993
• Indian Airlines Flight IC427 hijacked between April 24 and April 25, 1993. Commandos from the National Security Guard (NSG) by Mohammed Yousuf Shah. The rescue was code-named Operation Ashwamedh.
• Indian Airlines Lucknow-Delhi Flight IC-436 was hijacked by four college students of the Lucknow Arts College seeking to postpone their college exams in April 1993
• A Delhi – ChennaiAir India Airbus 320 was hijacked by a man who wanted Marathwada University to be renamed after Dr B R Ambedkar on  January 13^th, 1994.
• Indian Airlines Flight 814 known as IC 814 was an Indian Airlines Airbus A300 en route from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, hijacked on 24 December 1999 by Harkat-ul-Mujahideen

International Airports of India

Domestic Airports

 Future Airports

Two types of fund provided by GOI

GREEN INVESTMENT

• Fresh Investment i.e. to build up airport from scratch
• Bangalore & Hyderabad Airports

BROWN INVESTMENT

• Renovation of old Airports
• Delhi & Mumbai Airports

Awards & Recognitions received by Indian Airports:

• World’s largest ‘charkha’ displaye at IGI airport
• Mangaluru Airport conferred as best in the country
• Cochin International Airport become India’s first green airport -world’s first solar powered airport
• Indira Gandhi International adjudged as world’s best airport in 2015
• Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has won three international awards for 2015 year given by the Airports Council International (ACI).
• Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has been named as the world’s number 1 position for the second consecutive year in 25-40 Million Passengers Per Annum (MPPA) category
  Indira Gandhi International Airport to get India’s first body scanner
• Airports in Jaipur and Lucknow which are managed by the Airports Authority of India, have won the first and second place of the 2015 Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards
• Golden Peacock National Quality Award 2015 for Delhi Airport
• Kempegowda International Airport, Bangalore is India’s First to Receive Green Co Platinum Rating

Important Persons to know

1. Guruprasad Mohapatra – Chairman of Airports Authority of India
2. Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju – Union Minister for Civil Aviation