Indian Airmails

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  • Pre-1953 Airlines
    • 1911 1st Aerial Post NIC
    • Indian State Air Services >
      • 1929 Karachi - Delhi via Hyderabad & Jodhpur
      • 1931 Last Flight Karachi-Delhi
    • Delhi Flying Club >
      • 1931 Emergency Flight by Delhi Flying Club
      • 1932 Karachi - Delhi
    • Indian Trans-Continental Airways >
      • 1933 Karachi - Calcutta >
        • 1933 Eastwards: Karachi - Calcutta
        • 1933 Westwards: Calcutta to Karachi
      • 1933 Calcutta - Rangoon via Akyab >
        • 1933 Eastwards: Calcutta - Rangoon via Akyab
        • 1933 Westwards: Rangoon - Calcutta via Akyab
      • 1933 Karachi - Singapore Extension
      • 1934 Karachi - Australia Extension
      • 1936 Rangoon - Hong Kong
    • Indian National Airways >
      • 1933 Calcutta - Dacca
      • 1933 Rangoon - Calcutta
      • 1934 Karachi - Lahore
      • 1938 Delhi - Lahore
      • 1939 Karachi - Delhi
      • 1940 Karachi - Calcutta
      • 1947 Calcutta - Rangoon
    • Air Services of India Ltd >
      • 1938 Bombay-Kathiawar
      • 1940 Bombay-Amreli
      • 1940 Kolhapur - Bombay
    • Madras Air Taxi Service
    • Experimental & Survey Flights. >
      • 1931 England - Australia Flight >
        • 1st Experimental Flight
        • 2nd Experimental Flight
      • 1938 Flying Boat Coogee
    • Dalmia-Jain Airways Ltd
    • Orient Airways Ltd
    • Starline / Indian Overseas Airline >
      • 1948 - Nagpur - Lucknow
      • 1949 First Indian Night Mail Flight
      • 1949 All Up Internal Air Mail
    • Bharat Airways >
      • 1949 - Calcutta - Hong Kong
      • 1950 - Calcutta - Singapore
    • Himalayan Aviation
    • Aviation Related Events >
      • 1938 Karachi Airport
      • 1940 Hyderabad Air Service
    • WW2 Flights
    • Unknown Airlines
  • Tata Airlines
    • 1931 - Karachi - Madras: Route Survey Flight
    • 1932 - Karachi - Madras >
      • Official Southbound
      • Official Northbound
      • Other Southbound
      • Other Northbound
      • Other Material
    • 1933 - Karachi - Madras via Poona
    • 1935 Karachi - Madras via Hyderabad >
      • 1935 - Karachi - Madras via Hyderabad
      • 1935 Bombay-Hyderabad Errors on Stamp
    • 1935 - Bombay - Calcutta demonstration flight
    • 1935 - Bombay - Travancore via Goa & Cannanore
    • 1936 - Madras to Colombo via Trichinopoly
    • 1937 - First Flight to Bhuj
    • 1937 - Delhi - Bombay via Gwalior, Bhopal & Indore
    • 1938 - Karachi - Madras extension to Colombo via Trichnopoly
    • 1938 - Trichinopoly - Trivandrum extension
    • 1938 - Mansoon halt at Poona
    • 1946 - Bombay - Calcutta via Nagpur
  • Air-India
    • 1948 Air-India International Bombay - London Flight >
      • Postage Stamps - Errors
      • The Postage Stamp
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      • DG's Circular & Postal Notices
      • Official Covers
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      • Special Flight Cachet
      • Postage Rates gallery
      • Local Cancellations
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      • Interesting Places of Origin & Destinations >
        • Interesting Destinations
        • Interesting Places of Origin
        • Interesting Places of Origin & Destinations
      • More interesting covers
      • Return Flight covers
      • Other Philatelic Curiosities
      • Award winning exhibit
    • 1948 - 1953 Early Route Expansion
    • 1954 - 1959 Early Route Expansion
    • 1960 - 1965 Air-India Boeing 707 Era.
    • 1966 - 1970 Air-India Boeing 707 Era.
    • 1971 - 1975 Boeing 747 & Other Aircraft Era
    • 1976 Onward Boeing 747 & Other Aircraft Era
    • Crash Mail Covers
    • Postal Meter panels
  • Indian Airlines
    • 1960 - 1964
    • 1965 - 1969
    • 1970 - 1974
    • 1975 - 1979
    • 1980 - Onward
    • Crash Mail Covers
    • Meter Panel & Stationery
  • Foreign Airlines
    • Air Ceylon
    • Air France
    • B.O.A.C. >
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 1 Jetliner Service London to Colombo August 1952
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 1 Jetliner Service London to Singapore October 1952
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 1 Jetliner Service London to Tokyo April 1953
      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Sydney March 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Tokyo July 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Colombo August-September 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Tokyo April 1959
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Singapore June 1959
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Sydney November 1959
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Manila November 1961
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Auckland April 1963
      • B.O.A.C. Boeing 707 London to Nandi November 1965
      • B.O.A.C. VC 10 40th Anniversary of Regular Airmail
    • Trans - Australian
    • TWA
  • Others
    • Zeppelin & Catapult >
      • LZ-10 Schwaben
      • LZ-13 Hansa
      • LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin
      • LZ-129 Hindenberg
      • LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin II
      • Catapult Mail
      • Ephemera
      • Fakes & Forgeries
    • Rocket Mail >
      • Indian Rocket Mail
      • Sikkim Rocket Mail
    • Astrophilately >
      • Indian Astrophilately
      • Astro Ephemera
    • Pigeon Mail
    • Balloon Mail
    • Air Mail Societies
    • Airship R 101
    • Indian Air Force
    • Modern Airlines >
      • Star Air
      • Vayudoot
      • Vistara
    • Misc. Airmails
    • Not in Collection (NIC) >
      • World War 1
      • World War 2
      • Slogan Cancellation
      • FDC
      • FDC (as Fake)
      • Zeppelin & Catapult
  • Resources
  • Useful Links
  • Contact us
  • Home
  • Pre-1953 Airlines
    • 1911 1st Aerial Post NIC
    • Indian State Air Services >
      • 1929 Karachi - Delhi via Hyderabad & Jodhpur
      • 1931 Last Flight Karachi-Delhi
    • Delhi Flying Club >
      • 1931 Emergency Flight by Delhi Flying Club
      • 1932 Karachi - Delhi
    • Indian Trans-Continental Airways >
      • 1933 Karachi - Calcutta >
        • 1933 Eastwards: Karachi - Calcutta
        • 1933 Westwards: Calcutta to Karachi
      • 1933 Calcutta - Rangoon via Akyab >
        • 1933 Eastwards: Calcutta - Rangoon via Akyab
        • 1933 Westwards: Rangoon - Calcutta via Akyab
      • 1933 Karachi - Singapore Extension
      • 1934 Karachi - Australia Extension
      • 1936 Rangoon - Hong Kong
    • Indian National Airways >
      • 1933 Calcutta - Dacca
      • 1933 Rangoon - Calcutta
      • 1934 Karachi - Lahore
      • 1938 Delhi - Lahore
      • 1939 Karachi - Delhi
      • 1940 Karachi - Calcutta
      • 1947 Calcutta - Rangoon
    • Air Services of India Ltd >
      • 1938 Bombay-Kathiawar
      • 1940 Bombay-Amreli
      • 1940 Kolhapur - Bombay
    • Madras Air Taxi Service
    • Experimental & Survey Flights. >
      • 1931 England - Australia Flight >
        • 1st Experimental Flight
        • 2nd Experimental Flight
      • 1938 Flying Boat Coogee
    • Dalmia-Jain Airways Ltd
    • Orient Airways Ltd
    • Starline / Indian Overseas Airline >
      • 1948 - Nagpur - Lucknow
      • 1949 First Indian Night Mail Flight
      • 1949 All Up Internal Air Mail
    • Bharat Airways >
      • 1949 - Calcutta - Hong Kong
      • 1950 - Calcutta - Singapore
    • Himalayan Aviation
    • Aviation Related Events >
      • 1938 Karachi Airport
      • 1940 Hyderabad Air Service
    • WW2 Flights
    • Unknown Airlines
  • Tata Airlines
    • 1931 - Karachi - Madras: Route Survey Flight
    • 1932 - Karachi - Madras >
      • Official Southbound
      • Official Northbound
      • Other Southbound
      • Other Northbound
      • Other Material
    • 1933 - Karachi - Madras via Poona
    • 1935 Karachi - Madras via Hyderabad >
      • 1935 - Karachi - Madras via Hyderabad
      • 1935 Bombay-Hyderabad Errors on Stamp
    • 1935 - Bombay - Calcutta demonstration flight
    • 1935 - Bombay - Travancore via Goa & Cannanore
    • 1936 - Madras to Colombo via Trichinopoly
    • 1937 - First Flight to Bhuj
    • 1937 - Delhi - Bombay via Gwalior, Bhopal & Indore
    • 1938 - Karachi - Madras extension to Colombo via Trichnopoly
    • 1938 - Trichinopoly - Trivandrum extension
    • 1938 - Mansoon halt at Poona
    • 1946 - Bombay - Calcutta via Nagpur
  • Air-India
    • 1948 Air-India International Bombay - London Flight >
      • Postage Stamps - Errors
      • The Postage Stamp
      • First Day Covers
      • DG's Circular & Postal Notices
      • Official Covers
      • Air-India Covers
      • Special Flight Cachet
      • Postage Rates gallery
      • Local Cancellations
      • Private Covers Gallery
      • Interesting Places of Origin & Destinations >
        • Interesting Destinations
        • Interesting Places of Origin
        • Interesting Places of Origin & Destinations
      • More interesting covers
      • Return Flight covers
      • Other Philatelic Curiosities
      • Award winning exhibit
    • 1948 - 1953 Early Route Expansion
    • 1954 - 1959 Early Route Expansion
    • 1960 - 1965 Air-India Boeing 707 Era.
    • 1966 - 1970 Air-India Boeing 707 Era.
    • 1971 - 1975 Boeing 747 & Other Aircraft Era
    • 1976 Onward Boeing 747 & Other Aircraft Era
    • Crash Mail Covers
    • Postal Meter panels
  • Indian Airlines
    • 1960 - 1964
    • 1965 - 1969
    • 1970 - 1974
    • 1975 - 1979
    • 1980 - Onward
    • Crash Mail Covers
    • Meter Panel & Stationery
  • Foreign Airlines
    • Air Ceylon
    • Air France
    • B.O.A.C. >
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 1 Jetliner Service London to Colombo August 1952
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 1 Jetliner Service London to Singapore October 1952
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 1 Jetliner Service London to Tokyo April 1953
      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Sydney March 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Tokyo July 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Colombo August-September 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Tokyo April 1959
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Singapore June 1959
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Sydney November 1959
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Manila November 1961
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Auckland April 1963
      • B.O.A.C. Boeing 707 London to Nandi November 1965
      • B.O.A.C. VC 10 40th Anniversary of Regular Airmail
    • Trans - Australian
    • TWA
  • Others
    • Zeppelin & Catapult >
      • LZ-10 Schwaben
      • LZ-13 Hansa
      • LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin
      • LZ-129 Hindenberg
      • LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin II
      • Catapult Mail
      • Ephemera
      • Fakes & Forgeries
    • Rocket Mail >
      • Indian Rocket Mail
      • Sikkim Rocket Mail
    • Astrophilately >
      • Indian Astrophilately
      • Astro Ephemera
    • Pigeon Mail
    • Balloon Mail
    • Air Mail Societies
    • Airship R 101
    • Indian Air Force
    • Modern Airlines >
      • Star Air
      • Vayudoot
      • Vistara
    • Misc. Airmails
    • Not in Collection (NIC) >
      • World War 1
      • World War 2
      • Slogan Cancellation
      • FDC
      • FDC (as Fake)
      • Zeppelin & Catapult
  • Resources
  • Useful Links
  • Contact us

Indian Airmails

This website is for the amateur hobbyist, and contains information and image galleries of all kinds of Indian Air Mails like Airmail Postage Stamps, First Flight Covers, Postal Notices, Return Flight Covers, Crash Covers, Postal Meter Panels and other Collectibles. It is still under construction, and there is a lot more being added, so keep coming back.

9 maps showing evolution of Indian air mail routes from 1929 to 1960.
(Ref: The Story of Indian Air Transport by Mr. J.R.D. Tata - Chairman, Air-India International
at the Royal Aeronautical Society on 18 Nov 1960
)

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Recent Published Articles
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The Dardanus incident and the Pasind 5 cachet
By Piyush Khaitan BAMS Journal Vol.65, No.261, August 2023​
Rare WW II censorship handstamp – used only at Batanagar
By Piyush Khaitan CCSG Bul.220, Vol.50.4 - October 2023​
Click here for the order form
​and book review.

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Air India Collector - Piyush Khaitan & Vivek Matthai
e-Magazine - 100 Knots, September 2022 edition
Click here to read full article

What's New on our Website
Last 10 updates on this website are listed below. Click each link below to go to the respective web-page.
08 May 2025     NIC - This Air-India international souvenir cover sent from Karachi to Cairo.
03 May 2025     ​​ NIC - Air-India Amsterdam bi-lingual stationery cover with ‘Fly Air-India
02 May 2025      NIC - Air Mail Societies, Aero Philatelic Club of India 
02 May 2025      Port Blair Proving Flight to Calcutta 18 June 1977 – sent by the Station Manager at Port Blair.
02 May 2025      Indian Airlines Madras to Bombay Newspaper advertisement flight cover dated 20 December 1976 NIC
02 May 2025       ​NIC - Air India Bombay to Bangkok en-route to Hong Kong 1954, Bangkok delivery cds on reverse.
01 May 2025       ​Athens via Karachi to Bombay on Tata Sons Ltd. 1st Flight 15-16 Oct 1932.
01 May 2025       NIC - The First Rocket Ship to carry Living Passengers Rocket Mail - JC 12 - 29th June 1935
30 Apr 2025         NIC - Air India stamp on cover to Singapore sent after the Flight had left – 8 June1948 by Salisbury Park Pune cds.
30 Apr 2025         Air India 29 May 1948 First Day Cover–both stamps tied by 29 May 1948 Bombay cds
Click here to read all What's New on our website

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Cover flown on the first return flight of the Tata Karachi-Madras service (Madras-Bombay stage) on 17-18 Oct 1932 signed by pilot Neville Vintcent who went on to become the General Manager of Tata Air Services. (Very few such signed covers are known).

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Registered cover sent by Prof. S. N. Bose (inventor of the Bose-Einstein Condensate) in Calcutta to Nobel Prize winner Prof. Niels Bohr at Copenhagen. It is widely believed that Prof. Bose also deserved the Nobel Prize.
Postal significance: Late use of the stamp on 29 DEC 1951. As it is a registered letter, the post office clerk had an opportunity to see the stamp and should have refused to accept it as valid postage – Improper acceptance.
 
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Block of four 12a. Stamps issued for use on 8 June 1948 to celebrate the first flight of Air-India International.
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Pre-1953 Airlines
Click this button above to see Aerophilatelic information on
​Pre-1953 Airlines.

(More content being added - so keep visiting)
Tata Airlines
Click this button above to see Aerophilatelic information on Tata Airlines.
(More content being added - so keep visiting)
Air-India
Click this button above to see Aerophilatelic information on Air-India.
(More content being added - so keep visiting)
Indian Airlines
Click this button above to see Aerophilatelic information on Indian Airlines.
(More content being added - so keep visiting)
Others
Click this button above to see Aerophilatelic information on Zeppelin.
(More content being added - so keep visiting)

Air-India Collector
Click this button  to visit our sister web-site for images and information on Air-India collectibles and history.
​www.airindiacollector.com


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England – Australia route map
Lambert & Butler’s cigarettes c. 1936

Important Copyright Notice: The information and images contained in this web-site cannot be copied or used for any purpose without permission. Copyright of some items listed here belong to other respective owners, and some belong to us, while some are from the public domain. Hence, in order to avoid future complications, please contact us for any such requirement, by clicking this link, and we will respond appropriately. Any violation of this policy, may lead to prosecution of a Civil or Criminal nature, or both, solely at the infringers risk and cost.

We watermark images on our website. The intention is not to assert our copyright on all such images, but merely to discourage anyone from unauthorized copying and reproducing images from this website. The copyright to some of these images belongs to us, while others to their respective owners, while others are from the public domain.​
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