Defunct airlines of India - Part 1

ASan and I met for lunch over the weekend. If you knew us personally, you'd know that we're both forever thirsty, if you get my meaning. You'd also know that there are always discussions around ideas for posts. Most of them are flights of fancy (pun intended!), and almost always unviable. But two men with some alcohol in them can dream, can't they?

Anyway, this time the discussion finally got down to something that interests both of us, though in very different ways. ASan is a bit of a history freak, getting dreamy and bleary-eyed when you talk of anything 20 years or older (he thinks he’d have fit better into society a hundred years ago, than now). And I'm an AvGeek to the core and a huge fan of REG Davies. So when the talk finally came around to Indian airline companies that used to be, we hit paydirt!

After some decent and serious research, we think we've come up with our own Indian Aviation History 101. Given the volume there is to share, we’ll be splitting this up into multiple posts. Here’s Part 1.

Vayudoot (1981-1997)...

...started out as a joint venture between Air-India and Indian Airlines, the then state carriers, and was often referred to as India's third carrier.

It was setup with the intention of serving the North Eastern region of the country, which other-wise had only limited surface transport connectivity. Over time, they extended services to other parts of the country as well. At one time, they flew to nearly 100 destinations, calling themselves the "world's fastest growing airline"! 

Vayudoot operated a mixed fleet of Fokkers (ASan always cracks up at that one!) and Dornier's work horse, the 228. (The Indian Coast Guard still flies the Dornier 228s).

The first batch of crew were retired folks from Air India, which isn't saying much. 

The airline actually operated longer than many other now-defunct Indian operators - about 16 years - before being closed in 1997 due to severe operating losses (a recurring motif with Indian carriers). 

There was some talk of reviving the brand a few years back, but I think the national carrier has enough on its plate already. 

Pictures credit: Wikipedia.

Damania Airways (1993-1997)... 

...was perhaps the most flamboyant of all the early Indian carriers, once the skies opened up to private operators in the early 1990s. Started in 1993, they ran a small fleet of Boeing 737s leased from TAP Portugal, with flights largely to the four metros of Bombay (now Mumbai), Delhi, Calcutta (Kolkata) and Madras (Chennai), as well as to Goa and Indore. 

They were sort of pioneers in the luxury travel space, with their stated intent of bringing an international standard of flying to India. Old timers (not ASan!!!) talk about the excellent food quality on board. Damania even received government approvals to serve alcohol on domestic flights, something rather novel at the time.

Veteran travellers and folks from the travel industry consistently give full points to Damania when talking about how it was back in the day

In the mid-1990s, Air India got the government to bring in the first version of route dispersal guidelines or RDG (whereby an airline needs to fly a certain number of flights or seats to smaller destinations, in proportion to metro ones). These smaller destinations could be served only by small aircraft, and Damania could not get timely approvals for bringing in those planes. Ultimately, and as a result, they had to wind up operations in 1997.

A recent press report suggested that Pervez Damania, the founder of the airline, might have been looking to buy Air Pegasus after it has now virtually closed shop, but that may end up at nothing.

Damania Airways picture credit: Vak 1969

Skyline NEPC (1993-1997)...

...then came to the rescue. Started with a small fleet of Fokker 27 turbo props and adding five Boeing 737-200s, they were mainly largely between the smaller cities in Tamil Nadu. When Damania was shutting shop, Skyline NEPC took over Damania in a bid to bolster their presence and network. NEPC’s existing routes combined with Damania’s routes and fleet would meet the requirements of the RDG, resulting in operating and financial efficiencies (at least, that was the expectation). 

As is the case with most aviation stories out of India, the airline was short-lived, as financial woes got this one as well.

NEPC defaulted on dues to IATA, and the latter suspended them. As a consequence, NEPC was taken off the computerised reservation system. And if you can't book tickets, you can't sell them. Hence, shut down.

If you're up for viewing some vintage aircraft, look out whenever you're flying into or out of Chennai or Coimbatore. There are a few long defunct Fokkers still lying in the grass (I can actually see ASan ROFL-ing), just off the main runway 25 in MAA.

The ones in Coimbatore (CJB) are in a much worse off state, but at least have the saving grace of being visible from pretty much any of the ground floor departure gates. 

Picture credit: The Fokker aircraft page

- Vinay