Air-India completed 70 years yesterday. It was on October 15, 1932, that J R D Tata took off from Drigh Road Airport, Karachi, in a single-engined de Havilland Puss Moth for Mumbai (then known as Bombay) via Ahmedabad and landed on a grass strip at Juhu. From there, former RAF pilot Neville Vincent took over and flew to Chennai (then Madras) via Bellary. That was the beginning of Tata Airlines that comprised one Puss Moth, one Leopard Moth, one palm-thatched shed, one full-time pilot, one part-time engineer, two apprentice-mechanics and unlimited optimism. In 1983, the airlines flew 160,000 miles, carried 155 passengers and 10.71 tonnes of mail. In 1946, Tata Airlines was made a public company named Air-India. From a total of three stations at the time of nationalisation, Air-India’s network today covers 44 destinations.

• It has posted a profit of Rs 15.44 crore in 2000-2001, the first time in six years.
• It has inducted five A310-300s on dry lease between December 2001 and March 2002, while three additional A310-300s are scheduled to be inducted by the end of December 2002.
• Two Centaur hotels - Juhu and Airport - belonging to Hotel Corporation of India, a subsidiary of A-I, were sold to private parties this year.
• Till Friday, a 100 ft x 100 ft projector will beam A-I’s history on the A-I building terrace for four hours every day.
• At 11am on Friday, there will be a get-together for A-I employees at the old airport complex. Union Aviation Minister Shahnwaz Hussain will attend.