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Home > About Us > History > Timeline > 1981 - 1990

 

1981
Month Date Event
February 22 First module of the Bombay International Airport Terminal inaugurated and foundation stone for the second module laid.
March 10 Sharjah becomes online station with a weekly Boeing 707 service.
March 16 Computerised passenger reservations system inaugurated in Bombay.
March 30 Delhi cut-over to computerised reservations.
April 1 Melbourne becomes off-line.
April 14 First Boeing 707 scheduled flight to Salisbury, Zimbabwe, via Seychelles.
May 25 Kolkata cut-over to computerised reservations.
June 15 Madras cut-over to computerised reservations. Operations Headquarters building next to 747 Simulator Building officially opened by Capt. D. Bose, Director of Operations.
 
1982
Month Date Event
January 3 Amritsar and Birmingham become online stations; with the Moscow services now routed Bombay / Delhi / Amritsar / Moscow and Birmingham. Amritsar becomes the 6th online station in India; others being Bombay, Delhi, Kolkata, Madras and Thiruvananthapuram.
May 25 Air India and Airbus Industries signed an agreement for the purchase of three Airbus 300B4-200 aircraft in Bombay. Two aircraft will be delivered to Air India in July / August 1982 and the third in November 1982.
July 29 Air India's Airbus VT-EHN"Ganga" received by Mr. Raghu Raj, Chairman-cum-Managing Director in Toulouse.
August 11 First Airbus VT-EHN "Ganga" arrived in Bombay.
August 12 With the arrival of Air India's second Airbus VT-EHO "Godavari" in Bombay, the fleet now consists of ten Boeing 747s, six Boeing 707s and two Airbus 300B4-200s.
October 2 Montreal introduced as an online station with a twice weekly 747 service on the routing Bombay / Delhi / Frankfurt / London / Montreal on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
October 15 Mr. J.R.D. Tata re-enacted his original flight of 1932 in a Leopard Moth from Karachi to Bombay via Ahmedabad to mark Air India's 50th Anniversary.
November 15 Third Airbus 300B4-200 (VT -EHQ "Cauvery") arrived in Bombay. Boeing 707 withdrawn from Gulf / Thiruvananthapuram services. All the seven flights on the route being operated with Airbus 300B4. The 200-room Centaur Hotel at Delhi Airport inaugurated.
 
1983
Month Date Event
April 1 Sanaa became online.
October 1 Cairo becomes online again with a weekly Boeing 707 flight Bombay / Sharjah / Cairo.
 
1984
Month Date Event
May 9 Centaur Lake View Hotel at Srinagar inaugurated.
May 27 Thiruvananthapuram and Dhahran linked with a direct weekly Airbus service.
June 18 Air India's reservations transferred to the new, larger Sperry 1100/62 Computer System.
June 22 Selection of Airbus A310-300 as Boeing 707 replacement announced at a press conference in Bombay by Capt. D. Bose, Managing Director. Initial order for six aircraft scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 1986 and the other three in the latter half of the year. Total project cost Rs. 531.78 crores inclusive of spares, support equipment, training, etc. Of this, Rs. 52.80 crores will be rupee expenditure. The aircraft configuration: 12 first class, 20 executive class and 150 economy class seats. Cargo capacity 7.5 tonnes and maximum range 3,640 nautical miles with full payload.
July 3 Letter of intent for six Airbus 310-300 series aircraft signed.
October 28 The flight to Birmingham via Amritsar temporarily suspended. Accra, Dhaka and Addis Ababa become off-line.
November 25 The Centaur Hokke Hotel at Rajgir opened.
 
1985
Month Date Event
January 19 Toronto became online. Once a week Montreal service AI-181 re-routed to include Toronto as a stop. The first service with Boeing 747 VT EBN "Rajendra Chola" operated on the routing Bombay / Delhi / Frankfurt / Toronto / Montreal. The return flight route: Montreal / London / Delhi / Bombay.
February 5 Weekly Air India service to Lusaka withdrawn and replaced with Air India / Zambia Airways joint weekly DC-10 service.
April 8 Contract for six Airbus A310-300 aircraft signed in Bombay. Capt. D.Bose, Managing Director signed on behalf of Air India and Mr. Ranjit Jayaratnam, General Sales Manager on behalf of the Airbus Industry. The first of the six A310-300 ordered will be delivered to Air India in February 1986, two in April 1986 and the rest before the end of the year.
June 14 A new wing hangar near the new International Passenger Terminal at Bombay opened by Mr. H.C. Kapoor, Director of Engineering.
June 30 Operations to Toronto suspended.
July 1 Two Evergreen International Airlines DC-8 Series '63 and Series '73 all-cargo wet-leased in place of Overseas National aircraft.
October 27 Aden became off-line.
December 20 Hyderabad becomes online with a link to the Gulf. Jeddah service AI-826 of Thursday extended to Hyderabad / Bombay / Hyderabad / Bombay sectors will be operated with Airbus. Bombay / Jeddah / Bombay will be operated with Boeing 747-200.
 
1986
Month Date Event
January 31 Air India signed a loan agreement for 10 billion Yen (US $ 50 MILLION) with a consortium of three Singapore-based Japanese banks - Dai-Ichi-Kangyo Bank, Fuji Bank and Tokai Bank as part of the financing for the purchase of six Airbus A310-300 aircraft.
February 2 Goa becomes online. The first flight to land at Goa was AI-932 at 08:35 hrs., which left for Thiruvananthapuram an hour later. Goa introduced as a halt on the Sunday Gulf / Thiruvananthapuram service. The routing of the flight 915/932 is Bombay / Dubai / Kuwait / Goa / Thiruvananthapuram. In the westbound direction the flight operates on Mondays - Thiruvananthapuram / Goa / Kuwait / Dubai / Bombay.
March 4 Loan agreement for financing the purchase of Airbus A310-300 aircraft for US$ 393 million signed in London by Capt. D.Bose, Managing Director. Part of the loan agreement is for US$ 220 million from the Export Credit Guarantee Organisation of Britain, France, West Germany and other part is a Euro-dollar commercial loan for US $173 million arranged by Barclays Bank in the U.K. with 20 other banks.
March 9 The Rs. 41 crore Module II of the International Terminal at Bombay inaugurated. Module II will be exclusively used by Air India. The flight to be handled from the new location was AI-130 which arrived from Frankfurt. The first departure was AI-855 to Dhahran.
March 19 Mauritius becomes off-line. Services on the Bombay / Mauritius / Bombay route will be operated jointly by Air India / Air Mauritius with a Boeing 707 of Air Mauritius.
March 30 Sanaa and Cairo becomes off-line.
April 3 Perth becomes off-line. AI-404/411 operated at Bombay / Singapore / Sydney / Singapore / Bombay.
April 6 Introduction of Boeing 747 Freighter to New York and Frankfurt. The leased aircraft replaces one of the two DC8 Freighters. The 747 Freighter will operate a weekly all-cargo service to New York via Frankfurt in the westbound direction and via Paris in the return direction.
April 14 Capt. D. Bose, Managing Director received the first Airbus A310-300 from the Airbus Industrie's president and Chief Executive Officer Mr. John Pierson in Toulouse, France.
April 20 Air India's first A310-300 (VT-EJG "Yamuna”) arrived in Bombay at 10:00 a.m. Capt. B.S. Gopal, Director of Training (Flight Operations & Flight Safety) was in command. The distance of 7,090 kms. (4720 miles) between Toulouse and Bombay was covered in approx. 8 hr. and 15 minutes.
May 1 The Indira Gandhi International Terminal at Delhi Airport opened.
May 18 Arrival of second Airbus A310-300 ( VT-EJH "Tista" ) from Toulouse via Dubai at 09:00 a.m. The aircraft was under the command of Capt. C. Guibert of Airbus with Capt. V. Sachdeva under check on Toulouse / Dubai and Capt. J R Trilokekar on the Dubai / Bombay sector.
June 1 Third Airbus A310-300 (VT-EJI "Saraswati") arrived in Bombay from Toulouse at 06:45 hrs. The aircraft was under the command of Capt. BS.Gopal on Toulouse/ Kuwait sector and Capt. J.R.Trilokekar on Kuwait / Bombay sector. This flight operated as a scheduled passenger service (AI-140) via Kuwait.
June 16 Bangalore placed on Air India's international freighter route network. The flight is operated with a DC8-63F aircraft.
June 18 The first inaugural Airbus 310 service to Lagos via Nairobi. The aircraft (VT-EJI "Saraswati") commanded by Capt. M.V.Govindraja. With the introduction of A310-300 services to Lagos, Air India now operates the A310-300 to the following stations: Muscat, Kuwait, Dubai, Baghdad and Sharjah.
June 30 The A300 services to and from Thiruvananthapuram increased to nine flights a week.
August 15 Computerised Departures Control at Bombay Airport.
August 22 Fares information on computer terminals at 16 Indian and 60 outstations, also at 19 airports, including Bombay and Delhi plus Centaur Hotel, Bombay.
October 10 Centaur Hotel at Juhu inaugurated.
October 26 Weekly Baghdad service suspended.
October 29 Boeing 707s withdrawn from service. Last commercial flight operated by Boeing 707 VT-DPM “Dhaulagiri" was AI-235 / AI-232 which returned from Harare.
October 30 Fourth Airbus 310-300(VT-GJJ "Beas”) arrived in Bombay. The aircraft was under the command of Capt. B.S.Gopal, Director of Training (Flight Operation and Flight Safety).
December 30 The fifth Airbus 310-300 "Gomati" VT-EJK arrived in Bombay from Toulouse under the command of Capt. B.S.Gopal, Director of Training (FO & FS).
 
1987
Month Date Event
March 31 Sixth Airbus 310-300 (VT-EJL "Sabarmati”) arrived in Bombay at 0340 hrs. direct from Toulouse under the command of Capt. B.S.Gopal, Director of Training (FO & FS ). Airbus 310 introduced on Hong Kong route with twice weekly service on Wednesdays and Saturdays on routing Bombay / Bangkok / Hong Kong. Simultaneously thrice weekly Boeing 747 services on the Tokyo route started omitting Hong Kong. The three 747 services are routed AI-316 (Tuesdays) BOM/CCU/BKK/TYO, AI-306 (Fridays) BOM/DEL/BKK/TYO and AI-308 (Saturdays) BOM/DEL/BKK/OSA/TYO.
April 2 Seychelles became off-line office.
April 10 Air India and Indian Airlines computers linked.
May 15 Introduction of computerised ticketing system in Bombay.
May 23 Arrival of the Boeing 747-200 VT-ENQ from Singapore. Aircraft purchased from Singapore Airlines.
July 7 Amsterdam online again.
August 7 Agreement for the purchase of two Boeing 747-300 Combi (passenger and cargo ) aircraft signed in Bombay. Mr. C.L.Sharma, Dy. Managing Director, signed on behalf of Air India and Mr. D.D.Jennings, Regional Director Aircraft Contracts, on behalf of the Boeing Company. The total project cost is Rs. 371.74 crores including a foreign exchange content of US$ 274.200 million (Rs. 356.46 crores).
October 25 Harare, Dar-es-Salaam and Lagos become off-line.
November 17 Arrival of the wet-leased 140 seater aircraft IL-62M in Bombay. The aircraft has 8 First Class, 30 Business Class and 102 Economy Class seats.
November 20 Commencement of thrice weekly service to Moscow with the leased IL-62M.
December 15 The first phase of cargo computerisation inaugurated by Mr. Rajan Jetley at the cargo warehouse in Bombay. Import cargo handling has been transferred to a UNISYS 1100-72 computer system. Simultaneously the Cargo Space Control System was also switched on.
 
1988
Month Date Event
January 29 Direct link between Air India and Indian Airlines computers established to provide instantaneous reservations on Indian Airlines flights from any Air India station.
February 21 Riyadh becomes online.
October 23 First Boeing 747-300 Combi (VT-EPW "Shivaji") arrived in Bombay. The aircraft was ferried from Seattle to New York under the command of Capt. D.S.Mathur, Director of Operations and Capt.J.R.Trilokekar, Dy. Director of Operations, and operated as scheduled flight AI-110 from New York to Bombay via London. The aircraft has 271 seats (16FC, 67BC and 188EC) plus space for seven cargo pallets on the main deck, and five cargo pallets in the lower deck.
November 24 Second Boeing 747-300 (VT-EPX "Narasimha Varman") arrived in Bombay. The aircraft was ferried from Seattle to New York and then operated as an extra section flight.
December 30 AI's new Airbus A310-300 flight simulator manufactured by CAE Electronics of Montreal, Canada, inaugurated by Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman, at Santa Cruz. Cost of the new simulator is US$ 8.766 million.
 
1989
Month Date Event
February 18 Tashkent in Uzbekistan becomes online again. The weekly service is operated with an IL-62M aircraft wet-leased from Aeroflot, every Saturday.
July 1 Air India introduces new IATA Currency System.
October 15 Air India launches its new Corporate Identity Programme with a fly-past of Boeing 747-200 "Rajendra Chola" in its gleaming new colours. The "Sun" chosen by the airline as its new symbol, prominently positioned in metallic gold on the aircraft tail against a deep red ambassadorial sash extending from the top of the tail and draping over a portion of the fuselage is the highlight of the newly designed livery of Air India's aircraft. The new colours of red and gold constitute the dominant graphic image which will be progressively used on all Air India’s identity applications. Air India's Boeing 747 "Emperor Rajendra Chola" is the first aircraft to be retrofitted and painted with the new colours. The project was undertaken by HAECO, Hong Kong.
 
1990
Month Date Event
February 23 Boeing 747-200 (VT-EBE "Shahajehan" ) rolls out of Air India's hangar at the Engineering base after successful completion of Section 41 modification which was undertaken by Air India's Engineering team for the first time, assisted by structural technicians from Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
March 26 Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates becomes online. With the introduction of this flight, Air India operates to all five international airports in the U.A.E. The weekly A300-B4 flight operates Bombay / Fujairah / Abu Dhabi / Bombay.
May 23 Operations to Amsterdam temporarily withdrawn.
August 2 Operations to Kuwait and Baghdad suspended due to political instability.
August 13 Air India sends a special 747-200 flight to Amman to evacuate stranded Indian nationals from the Gulf.
August 15 The first batch of 285 Indians flown to India from Amman on Air India's special flight. With this flight Air India's operations to Amman for evacuation of Indian nationals begins.
August 24 Arrival of seventh Airbus 310-300 (VT-EQS "Krishna") in Bombay with new livery and new interiors. The flight was ferried from Toulouse to Dubai and operated as a scheduled flight on the Dubai / Bombay sector.
August 30 Arrival of eighth Airbus 310-300 (VT-EQT "Narmada") in Bombay. The flight was ferried from Toulouse to Dubai and operated as a scheduled flight on the Dubai / Bombay sector.
October 11 Air India completes evacuation of stranded Indian nationals from the Gulf. Air India, in association with Indian Airlines, Indian Air Force and Aeroflot, operated 488 special flights to airlift 1, 11,711 stranded Indian nationals. With such a large number of people having never been airlifted earlier, Air India added a new chapter in the annals of World Civil Aviation history. The 59-day epoch making evacuation earned rich accolades for Air India.
 
 
 
 
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