From the archives - Revision of memory

Introduction (Link) 

Scheduled air services in India began in October 1932 under the Aviation Department of Tata Sons Ltd, which was succeeded by Tata Airlines. This was subsequently renamed in July 1946 as Air India Ltd., and incorporated as Air India International Ltd. in March 1948. 

In 1953, the Air Corporations Act was passed. Air India International Ltd. was nationalised, and two corporations came into existence – Indian Airlines Corporation (as the national domestic carrier) and Air India (as the international carrier). In 1994, the Air Corporations Act was repealed, and Air India Ltd. (AIL) and Indian Airlines Ltd. (IAL) were incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956. 

Government-owned airlines dominated the Indian aviation industry till the mid-1990’s, when, as part of the open sky policy, the Government of India (GoI) ended the monopoly of AIL and IAL in air transport services, and allowed private operators to provide air transport services. 

In March 2007, National Aviation Company of India Ltd. (NACIL) was incorporated. The scheme of amalgamation of Air India Ltd. and Indian Airlines Ltd. into NACIL was approved in August 2007, with the “appointed” date of the merger being set as 1 April 2007. Subsequently, in November 2010, NACIL was renamed as Air India Ltd. (AI). The administrative Ministry for these Government airline(s) is the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA). 

Notes: 

Throughout this report, the abbreviations ‘AIL’ and ‘IAL’ are used to refer to the erstwhile Air India Ltd. and Indian Airlines Ltd. (pre-merger entities). 

The abbreviation ‘AI’ is used to refer to the merged entity.

(from the Performance Audit Report on Civil Aviation in India )