Fleet
Air India currently has 123 aircraft in its fleet, 47 Boeing 777s and 76 Airbus A319/320/321s.
History
The airline Air India was founded in 1932 by private Indian businessmen under the original name TATA Aviation Service in Mumbay. TATA initially carried only air cargo, but began carrying passengers on the Karachi to Madras route just 2 years later. Soon after, the routes were expanded and the airline also flew to international destinations in Iran and Iraq in 1937. During the Second World War, Air India took over maintenance from the Royal Air Force and carried refugees from what is now Myanmar. In 1946, the airline was renamed Air India and officials began to expand civilian air travel. Thus, in addition to domestic air traffic, the company also offered flights to international destinations in Great Britain and Canada.
After the nationalization of the airline in 1953, the airline expanded its international destinations over the next 25 years, until it fell into a severe financial crisis in the 1979/80 financial year, from which it was only able to recover in the 1990s. In 2005, the company finally expanded its business segments with the founding of its subsidiary Air India Express, which has since been operating as a low-cost airline primarily transporting Indian guest workers from the Arab oil countries and from Singapore back home.
Network
Air India's route network currently comprises more than 100 different destinations, which are regularly served from the two hubs in Bombay and Delhi, as well as from the other important bases in Chennai and Calcutta. Some of these worldwide destinations include Chicago, Dubai, Frankfurt, New York-JFK, London-Heathrow, Sydney, Jakarta, Nairobi, Colombo, Bangkok and Toronto.