National

Bidding adieu to ‘Indian Airlines’

Vinay Kumar

Brand to be merged with ‘Air-India’ from July 22

NEW DELHI: With barely a month to go for welcoming the new, merged incarnation of Air India on the domestic and international skies, time is inching slowly to bid farewell to Indian Airlines, one of the most visible, dominating and friendly brands in the civil aviation sector for the past five decades.

After the Government decision to merge the two public sector carriers — Air India and Indian Airlines — into a single entity, to be known by the brand name Air India from July 22, realisation is dawning gradually on the employees of Indian Airlines that they will lose the identity of the company that had cocooned them in job security and given their families bread and butter for decades.

What a turn of events it has been for the carrier as more than 50 years ago, it had taken eight airlines to merge and form the Indian Airlines that had inherited 99 aircraft at that time. The airlines along with Air India was set up after the Air Corporation Act was passed.

With the advent of the “Open Sky Policy” and a liberalised civil aviation sector, the competitive edge was provided by the private airlines. In the global aviation scenario, British Airways, Air France and Lufthansa also had to shed their governmental control and take on the fiercecompetition in the rapidly expanding sector.

On the ground, the merger has touched a raw, emotional nerve among a sizeable section of the employees of Indian Airlines. “The very thought that Indian Airlines will cease to exist is disturbing. I joined the carrier 27 years ago and nurtured it like my baby, suddenly I find that Indian Airlines will no longer be there. I was also hurt when Indian Airlines had its name chopped to just ‘Indian,’ I felt like I have lost my ownidentity,” said an official at the carrier’s headquarters here.

Several employees of Indian Airlines turn emotional when pressed for their reactions.

“There was a time when an orange tail of an Indian Airlines aircraft was very distinctly visible. We have so many firsts to our credit like flying stretcher cases, shouldering national and social responsibilities in the times of crisis like the Gujarat earthquake or the tsunami. We have even flown famous scientist Stephen Hawking.

A baby was born aboard our Viscount aircraft and we learnt that he was named after the aircraft.

He must be around 45 years or so now. As a young pilot, the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi adorned our cap with distinction,” recalled an old-timer.

Though the first flight of Air India as the new entity is being scheduled for August 1 between Mumbai and New York by a brand new Boeing 777 decorated with the new logo, the flight schedules of the two airlines are likely to be unified only with the advent of the winter schedule. Till then the “IC” call sign of Indian Airlines is likely to remain operational.

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