Airliners-India.com

RKRamesh · Member Joined: 20 Feb 2010 Posts: 165

This is the video of the first International Flight by AI on her beautiful Connie the 'Malabar Princess' sourced from the AI website.

http://home.airindia.in/SBCMS/downloads/Air-India-1st-Flight.Zip

AIR INDIA FAN · Member Joined: 20 Dec 2009 Posts: 105

hey ramesh,look what i have got for you.
hope you will like it.

RKRamesh · Member Joined: 20 Feb 2010 Posts: 165

Oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am lost for words Dear Air India Fan Shocked

RKRamesh · Member Joined: 20 Feb 2010 Posts: 165

This requires tons of effort to scan and send. In fact it is so much, I think the next time you should send it to us in smaller doses of say 5 or 10 at a time.

This is a priceless treasure trove of love's labour (and First Day Covers Smile

)

Dont know how you did it but do you actually have this collection of so many first day covers through the ages?!?

Thanks a million for the painstaking effort of scaning up these pieces of art for us to see.

The art work itself is so witty and what struck me apart from the quaint flowing style and bright colours is the research gone into choosing the mascot which best indicates that part of the world. (Wish there was one for the Bombay -Lusaka First Day Cover though).

Hats off to you AI Fan.

Looking forward to more rare treasures at your own convenient time. Smile

AirIndia0001 · Member Joined: 28 Sep 2007 Posts: 391

Great Find AI Fan... thanks for sharing! Very Happy

Here's the weblink to the images...
http://stampsofindia.com/lists/ffc/airindia.htm

RKRamesh · Member Joined: 20 Feb 2010 Posts: 165

Ah it is from a website. In all the excitement of browsing through them, I didnt check to see if the images were hyperlinked. Thanks for the link Air India0001.

I naively thought is was a part of AI fan's personal collection Smile

.
Do you by any chance collect these AI Fan? All the same, thanks for bringing these images here for us to see.

AIR INDIA FAN · Member Joined: 20 Dec 2009 Posts: 105

Thanks for salutation,ramesh.

I would like to thankyou for creating a forum,where we could show our love with air india to the world.

Sorry RK RAMESH,i forgot to quote link.

Actually i had following in my collection.

I found this in my grandpa room,when he died,in 1998,but unfortunately lost in 2008.

I am still searching for that.

vivekman · Member Joined: 26 Dec 2006 Posts: 1897 Location: BOM

Holy Sh*t! Air India was what Emirates is today! Shocked

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Boeing makes planes. Airbus makes videogames!

ssbmat · Member Joined: 20 Dec 2006 Posts: 1710

No to spoil the mood and throw a spanner into the works, but dont you think Air India's advertising back in the 50s especially was continuously re-inforcing the Stereotype of bullock carts, snake charmers, tigers and all that was "Ëxotic"" ?

But, aside from this minor aberration, AI was really a bold statement for an airline of the East, in an aviation world that was dominated by the West.
Unfortunately, now when the situation has reversed, (East dominating the aviation world), AI finds itself at the bottom of the heap..what an irony.

RKRamesh · Member Joined: 20 Feb 2010 Posts: 165

You do have a point there ssbmat.
But coming to think of it what else did brand India have going for it at that time that could fill up airline seats?

JRD fought hook line and sinker to bring in efficiency into the management of the then socialistic nation; he and even had to insulate AI from the way the airports, aviation and indeed in the way businesses were run in those days.

After all, the passengers comprised of the elite westerners and westernised Indians for whom Brand India was anything but an asset - and not without good reason then.

AI was a most forward thinking airline thanks to JRD. Spic n span functioning with the latest and the very best aircraft - why even Quantas happily recieved her hand-me-down Constellations when AI upgraded to 707s to create the world's first all jet fleet.

All this from a third world scenario...The magic carpet routes were truely magic and these a'd had to bank on the sereotypical image of India as a mystical land to bank on India's attractive , enigmatic, mystical past. There was nothing else to bank on as an Indian carrier at that time about India.

And how different things are now...AI has so much going for it in it's operating environment - just needs to be managed well once again as it was then...lets undo the irony and get her back where she could so suitably belong - at the top of the heap...wot say?

AIR INDIA FAN · Member Joined: 20 Dec 2009 Posts: 105

These are in Memory of RKramesh,I wonder,where is he now?

Jeh · Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 1:09 am Post subject:

RKRamesh · Member Joined: 20 Feb 2010 Posts: 165

Hi Air India Fan,
was out of action for a while as I was busy with my custom car design consultancy. I did find out with AI Bangalore and they do have some memorabilia which I will hopefully collect this week for you, as i should be going that way.

Thanks for the lovely update by the way...

Also loved the fab ad Jeh put up. It does cut across the good ol' stereotype of India... which is slowly changing anyway now...

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

To review this thread after a long hiatus, member @madnish30 has put together a collection on Air India ads - a collection of both classic ads (some of which are on this thread already), as well as some very recent ones (the DEL-GWL-BOM A319 flight, many small videos, and much more!). These are on the IA-F website.
http://indianaviation.freeforums.org/classic-ai-ads-t277.html
Cheers, Sumantra.

Nimish · Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 9:26 am Post subject:

^^ Nice collection!
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We miss you Nalini!