Air India

J.R.D. Tata laid the foundation of Air India back in the year of 1932. At the initial stage, it was named as Tata Airlines. At that time, the airline had only one plane,de Havilland DH.80A Puss Moth, which was used to carry mail from Bombay to Karachi and later on to Madras. However, after the World War 2, it turned into a public limited company and was named as Air India. On the 21^st of February 1961, the Air India included Boeing 707 in its fleet and the Air India became the first Airline to include a Boeing aircraft in its fleet in the Asian Airlines. Air India is the third largest airline of India after the Indigo and Jet Airways.

The flag carrier airline of India has its main operating office at Delhi. It is owned by the government of India. The member of Star Alliance has domestic operating centers at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai, Chennai International Airport, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkataand Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. During the year of 2001, an attempt was made to privatize the Air India but it could not be completed. However, it was suffering losses after the merger with Indian Airlines. In 2013, after almost a span of six years, the Air India showed a positive revenue result with a net growth of about 20%.

Fleet:

As far as the fleet is concerned, the Air India claims to have latest aircrafts. If we take a glance at the history of the Air India, we see that the airline used many aircrafts to carry its operations.

First, the airline purchased a Boeing 747-400 in the year of 1993 and it remained operated till the year of 2011. It was named as Konark. During the year of 2007, the Air India purchased two Boeing aircrafts. These were Boeing 777-200LR aircraft and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The first aircraft was named after the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh while the other was named as Bihar, which is another state of India. Air India purchased a Boeing 787 dream-liner aircraft in the year of 2012.

Apart the Boeing aircrafts, the Air India also uses Airbus to provide services to its passengers. During the year of 1989, Air India included Airbus A320-200 aircraft in its fleet and now Air India uses it in both the domestic and international flights. Air India has also Airbus A319 aircraft which is basically used for domestic and short distance flights. After the merger of 2007, the Air India included the biggest aircraft Airbus A321aircraft in its fleet to conduct the international operations smoothly. Apart from these Airbus aircrafts, the airline has also the Airbus A330s to conduct its flying operations. At the present, the Air India has about 62 Airbus aircrafts in its fleet.

Air India also provides services to the most prestigious passengers such as the Prime Minister, President and the Vice President of the country. The Air India uses Boeing 747-400s to carry these VIP flying operations. The airline also uses modified Embraer 135 and Boeing Business Jets to conduct such flying operations. These flights are given the call sign of Air India One.

During the year of 2013, the Air India sold its Boeing 777-200LR to ETIHAD Airways, in the view of high fuel expenses and less demand on the part of passengers. On the other hand, the Air India is also planning to restructure its fleet to make it more efficient and also useful for the passengers.

The Air India has abandoned the flights for Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles due to shortage of passengers on these routes.

Aircraft type	Owned	Lease	Dry Lease	Total
Operational Fleet	Â	Â	Â	Â
Wide Body	Â	Â	Â	Â
B777-200LR	3	0	0	3
B777-300ER	12	0	0	12
B747-400	3	2	0	5
B787-800	9	12	0	21
Wide BodyTotal	27	14	0	41
Narrow Body	Â	Â	Â	Â
A319	19	3	3	22
A320 (Twin Class)	4	5	5	9
A320 (Classics)	7	0	0	15
A321	20	0	0	20
Narrow Body Total	50	8	8	66
Regional Aircraft	Â	Â	Â	Â
CRJ-700	0	0	3	3
ATR42	0	0	3	3
ATR72	0	0	5	5
Regional Aircraft Total	0	0	11	11
Total Fleet	77	22	19	118