Chapter: Gist of Press Information Bureau Articles

Topic: Aviation

Q. Give timeline of Indian commercial aviation?

• On 18 February, 1911 the first commercial civil aviation flight took place in India between Allahabad and Naini, a distance of 6 miles when Henri Piquet carried 6500 mails on a Humber biplane. This is considered to be the world’s first airmail service and the beginning of civil aviation in India.

• In December 1912, the Indian State Air Services in collaboration with UK based Imperial Airways introduced the London -Karachi – Delhi flight, the first International flight to and from India.

• In 1915 Tata Sons Ltd. started regular air mail services between Karachi and Madras and o n J a nu a ry 2 4 , 192 0 R o y a l Airforce started re g u l a r airmail services between Karachi andBombay.

• Construction of Civil Airports in India started in 1924. Constructions began in Calcutta at Dum Dum, Allahabad at Bamrauli and in Bombay in Gilbert Hill.

• April 1927 saw the setting up of a separate Department of Civil Aviation to look after all civil aviation matters. That year also saw the establishment of Aero Club of India.

• In Februa ry 1929, JR D Tata was awarded t h e fir st pilot license by Federation Aeronautique International on behalf of the Aero Club of India and Burma. The same year Aga Khan announced a solo air race between London and Bombay. There were three participants - JRD Tata, Man Mohan Singh and Aspy Merchant. The race was won by Man Mohan Singh.

• Lt.Col. Shelmerdine was appointed first Director general of Civil Aviation(DGCA) in 1931 to look after civil aviation regulatory issues.

• In 1932 Tata Airlines came to being as a division of Tata Sons Limited. It started Air Mail services on the Karachi, Ahmedabad, Bombay, Bellary, Madras routes on 15 October. The same year, 1932 also saw the first Indian woman, Urmila K. Parikh get a pilot’s license.

• Between 1933 and 1934 a number of Indian airlines – Indian Trans Continental Airways, Madras Air Taxi Services, Indian National Airways etc., commenced operations.

• The Indian Aircraft Act was promulgated in 1934 and was formulated in 1937.

• Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) set up by Walchand Hirachand in association with the then Mysore Government in 1940 at Bangalore.

• India’s first aircraft, the Harlow trainer was rolled out for test flight in July 1941.

• In 1945 the Deccan Airways was founded - jointly owned by the Nizam of Hyderabad and Tata s. It s first flight began in July 19 4 6.

• In 1960, India entered the jet age with the introduction of Boeing 707-437 into the fleet of Air India and USA was connected to India for the first time by an Indian airline flight.

• 1985 also saw the establishment of Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited (PHHL) and the establishment of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udan Academy (IGRUA) in Fursatganj, RaiBareli in Uttar Pradesh for training of pilots.

• The National Airports Authority was constituted in 1986. In 1989, Indian Airlines became one of the earliest airline of the world to induct A320s type of aircraft from the Airbus company.

• 1990-91 saw the entry of private airlines after the de-regulation of the civil aviation sector. Private airlines were given permission to operate charter and non-scheduled services under the ‘Air Taxi’ Scheme. The East West Airlines was the first national level private airline to operate in the country after almost 37 years.

• In 1990 Captain Nivedita Bhasin of Indian Airlines at 26 became the youngest pilot in civil aviation history to command a jet aircraft. She also became the first woman check pilot on an Airbus A300 aircraft.

• 1990 was also a land-mark year for Indian civil aviation and Air India when Air India entered the Guinness Book of World Records for largest evacuation effort by a single civilian airline when it flew over1,11,000 people from Amman to Mumbai in 59 days operating 488 flights just before the Gulf war began.

• In 1994, following the repeal of the Air Corporation Act private airlines were permitted to operate scheduled services and a number of private players including Jet Airways, Air Sahara, Modiluft, Damania Airways, NEPC Airlines and East West Airlines commenced domestic operations.

• In 1995 Airport Authority of India (AAI) was constituted after the merging of the International Airport Authority of India with National Airports Authority.

• In 2008 the path breaking Greenfield Airports Policy of the Government was announced.

• To regulate the economic aspects of airports, the Parliament passed the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) Bill and the AERA was set up in 2009.

• At present India is the 9th largest aviation market in the world with 82 operational airports, 735 aircraft, 12 operational scheduled airlines and 121 non-scheduled operators. The number of air passengers travelling in India is expected to cross 50 million this year.

Q. Where in India, first private airport was established?

First Private Airport came up in the country in Cochin, Kerala in 1998.

Q. When Air India came into existence?

• In 1946 ‘Air India’ came in to being when Tata Airlines changed its name to Air India. In 1948 Air India signed an agreement with the Government to operate international services under the name Air India International Ltd. On June 8, the same year Air India inaugurated its international services with a weekly flight between Bombay and Londonvia Cairo and Geneva.

• In March 1953 the Indian Parliament passed the Air Corporations Act, and Indian Airlines and Air India International were set up after nationalisation of the entire airline industry. At this time eight formerly independent domestic airlines: Deccan Airways, Airways India, Bharat Airways, Himalyan Aviation, Kalinga Air Lines, Indian National Airways, Air India, Air Services of India were merged.

Q. Who was the first Indian cosmonaut?

In 1984 Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma of Indian Air Force becomes the first Indian cosmonaut and the 138th man in space spending 8 days in space abroad Salyut 7.

Q. Who was the first women Indian commercial pilot?

In 1948 Prem Mathur became the first woman commercial pilot and started flying for Deccan Airways. She obtained her commercial pilot’s license in 1947.

Q. Who became first women pilot of Indian Airlines?

In 1956 Ms. Durba Banerjee was inducted as the first woman pilot of Indian Airlines.

Q. Who became first Indian born women to fly to space?

In 1998 Dr. Kalpana Chawla became the first Indian-born woman to fly to space as part of a NASA team.

Go Back To Main Page