AIR INDIA

airline founded in 1932 (as Tata Airlines), now an international airline owned by the Indian government. The first scheduled service was inaugurated in 1932 by J.R.D. Tata, flying mail and passengers between Karachi, Ahmedabad, Bombay (now Mumbai), Bellary, and Madras (now Chennai). By 1939 routes had been extended to Trivandrum (now Thiruvananthapuram), Delhi, Colombo, Lahore, and intermediate points.

After World War II, Tata Airlines was converted into a public company and renamed Air-India Limited in 1946. Two years later, on June 8, 1948, Air India International inaugurated its global operations modestly with a weekly service from Mumbai to London via Cairo and Geneva. In 1953, all Indian airlines were nationalized creating two corporations, one for domestic service, called Indian Airlines Corporation (merging Air-India Limited with six lesser lines), and one for international service, called Air-India International Corporation. This name was abbreviated to Air India in 1962 but reverted to Air India Limited in 1994.

In the mid-1930s, the airline offered barely two or three destinations. Air India today offers a network of 44 destinations worldwide. Its fleet has grown from Dakotas and Vickers Vikings to Super Constellations, Boeing 707s, Boeing 747-200s, Boeing 747-300s, Boeing 747-400s, Airbus 300-B4s, and Airbus 310s. In 1962, Air India earned the distinction of becoming the world's first all-jet airline.

In 1990, Air India airlifted 111,711 stranded passengers from Amman to Mumbai by operating 488 flights (in association with Indian Airlines) in an operation that lasted 59 days. This feat was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records (1993) as the largest evacuation of civilians by an airline.