AirIndia - Time line 1971 1980

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1971
Month	Date	Event
February	1	Operations through Brussels suspended.
April	18	Arrival of first Boeing 747-237B aircraft (VT-EBD "Emperor Ashoka”) in Bombay.
May	4	Arrival of second Boeing 747-237B aircraft (VT-EBE "Emperor Shahjehan”) in Bombay.
May	24	Inaugural flight to London with 747-200.
May	25	Third service via Moscow introduced.
May	26	First flight to New York with 747-200.
July	8	Formation of the Hotel Corporation of India Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air-India.
July	17	Operations through Dhahran, Zurich, Prague and Amsterdam withdrawn.
September	9	Formation of Air India Charters Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India.

1972
Month	Date	Event
January	1	First flight of the Charter Company ACL-131 to London.
February	4	Dacca introduced as an online station. Acceptance papers for the 747 Simulator installed in Bombay signed by Air Marshal M.S.Chaturvedi, M.D., Air India and Mr. R.W. Cooke, President, CAE Electronics Limited in the new Simulator building at Santa Cruz.
February	14	Foundation Stone of Air India’s first hotel "CENTAUR" at Bombay Airport laid.
April	1	Arrival of third Boeing 747-237B aircraft (VT-EBN "Emperor Rajendra Chola") in Bombay, on a scheduled flight. The aircraft was delivered to Air India on March 28, 1972. It was flown Seattle / London on March 29, 1972, and arrived at London on March 30, 1972. It was operated on a scheduled flight AI-107 on London / New York sector and AI-108 New York/ Bombay sector. Introduction of the third flight of the Charter Company ACL-001 to Amsterdam.
April	27	Dhahran reintroduced as an online station.
May	1	Bombay booking office shifted to Air India Building.
June	4	Arrival of fourth Boeing 747-237B aircraft (VT-EBO "Emperor Vikramaditya") in Bombay.
November	2	Osaka introduced as an online station with a twice weekly service.

1973
Month	Date	Event
January	19	Nairobi / Entebbe / Nairobi sector suspended.
March	7	First message from Air India's Bond Street office in London keyed in the BOADICEA Computer system of BOAC in London to inaugurate the computerised reservation facility for Air India in Europe and USA.
June	8	To mark Air India’s 25 years of overseas operations, the Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department released a first day cover and a multicolored stamp.
July	10	New 747-200 hangar at Engineering Base opened for partial operation.
September	5	New 747 Engine Test Facility inaugurated by Managing Director Mr. K.K.Unni.
October	28	Four Gulf Terminator services rescheduled with two flights to Kuwait via Dubai and Bahrain, one flight to Doha via Abu Dhabi and one flight to Bahrain via Dubai. Dhahran put on 707 U.K. terminator services, AI -127 westbound and AI -122 eastbound.
November	1	Doha introduced as an online station on one of the four Gulf terminator services.

1974
Month	Date	Event
February	12	Muscat introduced as an online station.
April	1	Nandi becomes an off-line station.

1975
Month	Date	Event
April	2	Air India operated on a scheduled basis two 13 - pallet all-cargo Boeing 707 flights to London via Middle-East and Europe and one Boeing 707 flight a week to Tokyo.
October	1	Dacca operations curtailed to one flight a week on ad hoc basis.
December	27	Arrival of fifth Boeing 747-237B aircraft (VT-EDU "Emperor Akbar”) in Bombay.

1976
Month	Date	Event
February	1	Services to Gulf increased to eleven flights a week. Dacca operation suspended with the introduction of Winter 1976 Timetable.
March	29	Boeing 747-200 introduced on Australia route. VT-EDU "Emperor Akbar" commanded by Capt. C.R.S. Rao operated the first flight to Sydney via Madras, Singapore and Perth.
April	1	Baghdad becomes online station. Amsterdam becomes online again. Jakarta becomes off-line station.
April	6	Inauguration of a weekly Boeing 707 service to Baghdad via Dhahran and Kuwait.
May	30	One stop Boeing 747 bullet service from New York to Bombay via London inaugurated. Air India is the only airline to operate such a service.
June	25	Seychelles becomes online station.
December	15	Agreement signed with the Boeing Company for the purchase of sixth Boeing 747
December	19	Lagos, the capital of Nigeria and Accra, the capital of Ghaana in Africa become online.

1977
Month	Date	Event
April	13	Introduction of a weekly 707 terminator service to Jeddah. Air India now operates 21 terminator services to the Gulf.
November	1	Air India’s flights to Mauritius discontinued; last flight was on October 31, 1977.

1978
Month	Date	Event
January	31	Introduction of a weekly 707 service to Thiruvananthapuram via Dubai.
February	6	Arrival of sixth Boeing 747-237B (VT-EFJ "Emperor Chandragupta”) in Bombay.
July	2	Arrival of seventh Boeing 747-237B (VT-EFO "Emperor Kanishka" ) in Bombay.
November	16	Ras-al-Khaymah becomes online station.

1979
Month	Date	Event
February	15	A Sperry Univac 1100/22 Real Time Computer System installed at Air India's Computer Centre at Santa Cruz, Bombay.
August	16	Arrival of eighth Boeing 747-200 CVT-EFU "Krishnadevaraya" in Bombay.
September	7	First Freighter Service to New York via Europe inaugurated with a wet-leased DC-8-63F aircraft.
September	9	Cargolux DC-8-63Faircraft wet-leased to operate Freighter Service to New York.
November	20	Foundation stone of "Centaur Lake View Hotel", a Rs. 9 crore five-star hotel of the Hotel Corporation of India in Srinagar laid.
December	23	Arrival of the ninth Boeing 747-237B (VT-EGA "Samudragupta") in Bombay.

1980
Month	Date	Event
January	1	Boeing 747-200s introduced on India / Japan route. Air India now operates two Boeing 747 and one 707 service a week to Tokyo and two Boeing 707 services to Osaka.
February	22	Arrival of the tenth Boeing 747-237B (VT-EGB "Mahendra Verman") in Bombay.
March	31	Boeing 707-437(VT-DJK "Everest") withdrawn from service.
April	1	Boeing 707s withdrawn from India/ Japan route and replaced with Boeing 747s. Services reduced to four times a week. Osaka service extended to Tokyo. Simultaneously, India-Japan all-Cargo service withdrawn.
April	6	Arrival of eleventh Boeing 747-237B (VT-EGC "Harsha Vardhan") in Bombay.
June	1	New route added to Air India's network with the start of a weekly 707 service to Lusaka via Dar-es-Salaam. Singapore eliminated as a halt on Bombay / Sydney weekly service which now operates Bombay / Perth / Sydney / Melbourne / Perth / Bombay. Singapore to be served with three 707 services a week, via Madras and Kuala Lumpur. European extension of the twice weekly Moscow service discontinued. Once a week 707 service to Dacca reintroduced. Also the third 747 terminator service to Paris reintroduced. Three 747 Delhi / Gulf / Delhi services introduced.
July	29	Boeing 707-437 (VT-DNY "Dhaulagiri") withdrawn from service.
December	8	New International Airport Terminal at Bombay opened.