Useful Links

Here I have listed links to other sites which you may find interesting. You will find that Air-India is constantly in the news, and has a large fan following. I have listed these topically, and hope to add many more as we go along.
ps: I may not agree with everything they say, and sometimes the information may be wrong. However, that is for the reader to judge.

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Tata Group Civil Aviation History

Magic Carpet, The Staff Magazine of Air-India, Vol. 6, No. 8. October 1962. Released on the 30th Anniversary of the First Airmail Flight of Tata Sons piloted by JRD Tata, Neville Vincent and Homi Barucha is stages, this entire issue is dedicated to the flight with lots of rare pictures and information. I have provided a link for you to view or download the pdf from my dropbox account.

• The TATA review published in December 1982. This issue is devoted to the 50th anniversary celebrations of Tatas in aviation. JRD Tata re-enacted his historic flight from Karachi to Bombay, in an almost similar airplane, and this time at the young age of 78 years. There is other material in the issue besides this flight, and I have provided a link for you to view or download the pdf from my dropbox account.

J. R. D. Tata

• JENTLEMAN JEH. An article in the Sunday Mid-Day, December 5, 1993, by R k Karanjia. Jeh's life was like a perfect Victorian sonnet: with a beautiful beginning, robust middle and gentle ending.

Air India History

• Air India's Inaugural Flight. (nd) dadinani.com
• Air India : The history of the aircraft fleet. 26 July 2004, by Sean Mendis
• When Air India Was Owned By Tata’s, February 4, 2016, By Al Arafat Sherfuddeen.
• Air India Flew Its First International Flight 68 Years Ago. Here’s All You Need To Know About It. Jun 10, 2016, by Shumali Sharma
• 3 November 1950. On the crash of the Malabar Princess by Bryan R. Swopes.
• Time for the Maharaja to Stand Tall. Sep 17 2016 : The Economic Times (Mumbai) by Anirban Chowdhury and Mihir Mishra. Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju in his inimitable way is attempting to bring back the glory that Air India once commanded. But more interesting is the kinship that Raju, a scion of the royal family of Vizianagram, finds with the airline's iconic mascot: The Maharaja.
• Here is a link to Airwhiners.net. It contains a complete list of Air-India aircraft, with registration numbers, names and more information. This is complied by Seam Mendis. Unfortunately, it mixes up both Air-India Ltd., and Air-India International Ltd. However, it is very comprehensive, and a useful reference tool.
• Air-India like you've never seen before. May 14 2018: 'Revisiting the Golden Age of Travel with Air-India' With the help of private collectors and archival material, AD revisits the beauty and grace of the Maharajah Lounges and the Emperor fleet, before the titles came to an end in 1988. by Arcihtectual Digest (AD)

Air India Collectibles

• Airline Timetable Images is a wonderful website put up by Björn Larsson and David Zekria. You will need to navigate through the site for a glimpse of very old and rate timetables and baggage labels of Air-India.
• Club Maharaja. An absolutely fabulous aviation website called Aerocollectors Club by Ken Sequeira, built in 2014. Ken worked for Air-India and now lives in Australia. He has dedicated a section to Air-India, and has the most amazing gallery of items on display.
• All the Maharaja’s men. March 10, 2016, by Riaan Jacob George. - a great article on Air-India collectibles and the growing tribe of collectors.
• Air India to host rare ancient artefacts on August 15. By Neha Tripathi, The Asian age, Jan 30, 2017.
• In return, Señor Dali would like a baby elephant by Reema Gehi, Mumbai Mirror, August 6, 2017.
• Air-India museum likely to be opened by January in Mumbai by Express News Service, The Indian Express, August 23, 2017.
• 'I once flirted with a Maharajah' Nargis Wadia reminisces about the joy of creating Air-India's iconic posters by Salil Deshpande, Conde Nast Traveler Magazine, May 11, 2018.

Air-India Art Collection

• First ever exhibition of the Air India art collection. 17 Aug 2013, by Gargi Gupta
• How the Maharajah become an art lover by Reema Gehi, July 16, 2017.  Air-India has one of India's biggest art collections. How did the national carrier come to acquire it in the first place?​
• Culture Ministry will take over AI's art collection. National carrier’s priceless artwork will be taken over by the Ministry of Culture, which will display it in the National Gallery of Modern Art in various metros. by Mumbai Mirror, July 2, 2018.
• Air-India to give away 4,000 artworks gathering dust at Mumbai office to NGMA. “The Maharaja collection”, as it is generally called, has more than 4,000 works, including paintings by legendary artists such as M F Husain, V S Gaitonde, Jatin Das, and Anjolie Ela Menon.by Divya A, Indian Express, July 4, 2018.

Air India Trivia

• Air-India adds more color to Diwali Stamp Celebrations by Bidisha Roy. 21 Oct 2016. Gifts free return tickets to India to winners in AI Raffle to promote Diwali Stamp
• Air-India flies Delhi-San Francisco nonstop over Pacific, and into record books by Saurabh Sinha, Oct 23, 2016.
• AI lines up an all-woman, round-the-world flight, by Manju V. Feb 17 2017 : The Times of India (Mumbai). To fly to San Francisco from Delhi, Air India flies eastwards over the Pacific, making a 15,300km journey, which happens to be the world's longest non-stop route to be operated by any airline.
• Air-India: Crew recall good old days when the Maharajah was pride of the nation by Jane Borges. July 09, 2017. As Air-India gets ready to move into private hands, crew members share memories of flying around the world with the Maharajah.​