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Air India One (also referred to as AI1 AIC1 or INDIA 1) is the
air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...
call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
of any Special Extra Section Flight (SESF) operated by the Indian Air Force (IAF) for the
President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...
,
Vice President of India The vice president of India (IAST: ) is the deputy to the head of state of the Republic of India, i.e. the president of India. The office of vice president is the second-highest constitutional office after the president and ranks second in the ...
or
Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...
. The IAF's Air Headquarters Communication Squadron, based at Air Force Station Palam, is the unit responsible for coordinating the missions.


History

Initially, the Air India One was an
Air India Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed the sa ...
Boeing 747-400 The Boeing 747-400 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, an advanced variant of the initial Boeing 747. The "Advanced Series 300" was announced at the September 1984 Farnborough Airshow, targeting ...
which used to ferry the President, Vice President and the Prime Minister. In 2016, the
Boeing 777-300ER The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long-range wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet. The 777 was designed to bridge the gap bet ...
was selected as SESF (VVIP transport). The new aircraft, with specially-designed liveries, entered service in October 2020, replacing the Boeing 747-400s operated for the missions by
Air India Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed the sa ...
. Unlike the 747s which were commercial aircraft, the newly inducted aircraft are military vessels formally owned and operated by the
Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...
. They bear no Air India markings and have no commercial dual-use. However, under a special contract, they will be maintained by Air India Engineering Services Limited (AIESL), which has experience maintaining the Boeing 777 series aircraft for Air India's commercial fleet. The aircraft are fitted with encrypted satellite communication facilities and advanced navigation aids, an advanced missile warning system, a missile deflecting shield and electronic countermeasures so as to provide protection from any ground-based or airborne threats and flares and glares for misleading the missile. They are capable of long-range travel removing the need for
air-to-air refueling Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft a ...
(which is a feature on the
VC-25A The Boeing VC-25 is a military version of the Boeing 747 airliner, modified for presidential transport and commonly operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) as '' Air Force One'', the call sign of any U.S. Air Force aircraft carrying the ...
s though they have not been used at all in their service) . The 777-300ER's onboard electronics include about 238 miles of wiring (twice the amount found in a normal 777). The heavy shielding is crucial to protect the wiring and crucial electronics from the
electromagnetic pulse An electromagnetic pulse (EMP), also a transient electromagnetic disturbance (TED), is a brief burst of electromagnetic energy. Depending upon the source, the origin of an EMP can be natural or artificial, and can occur as an electromagnetic fie ...
associated with a nuclear blast. At a Boeing facility in
Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
, Texas, two ex- Air India aircraft (VT-ALV and VT-ALW, now registered as K7066 and K7067 respectively) were specially outfitted with missile defense and countermeasures dispensing systems, including large aircraft infrared countermeasures (LAIRCM) self-protection suites (SPS). On Air India One flights, the President is designated as ''VIP-1'', the Vice President as ''VIP-2'', and the Prime Minister as ''VIP-3''. The BBJs have a four class configuration. For VIPs 1, 2 and 3, an executive enclosure in the aircraft includes an office and a bedroom. All other passengers aboard Air India One are required to wear colour-coded identity cards at all times. Members of the official delegation (at the rank of
Joint Secretary to the Government of India Joint Secretary to Government of India (often abbreviated as JS, GoI or Union Joint Secretary or Joint Secretary to Union of India) is a post under the Central Staffing Scheme and the third highest non-political executive rank in Government of I ...
and above) are tagged in purple and sit in first class. Personnel of the
Special Protection Group The Special Protection Group (SPG) is an agency of the Government of India whose sole responsibility is protecting the Prime Minister of India and in some cases, his or her family. It was formed in 1988 by an Act of the Parliament of India. The ...
are also tagged in purple to provide proximate security to the Prime Minister, and may carry close combat weapons for the duration of flights. Accompanying officials (passengers of rank below Joint Secretary) are tagged in pink, and sit in business class equivalent seats. Support staff, including cooks and butlers, and other security personnel (not including the
Special Protection Group The Special Protection Group (SPG) is an agency of the Government of India whose sole responsibility is protecting the Prime Minister of India and in some cases, his or her family. It was formed in 1988 by an Act of the Parliament of India. The ...
) are tagged in red, while journalists in the press pool are tagged in yellow. Both red and yellow-tagged passengers sit in economy class equivalent seats. While Ministers of the Union and senior staff officers of the Indian Armed Forces may use smaller aircraft for official travel, the 777-300ER's are exclusively used by the President, Vice President and Prime Minister. Additional
Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...
VIP Aircraft such as the B737 BBJ and
ERJ-135 The Embraer ERJ family (for Embraer Regional Jet, model names EMB-135, EMB-140 and EMB-145) are regional jets designed and produced by the Brazilian aerospace company Embraer. The family includes the ERJ135 (37 passengers), ERJ140 (44 passenger ...
are also used by many government dignitaries (including the Prime Minister) for domestic and international medium-haul travel.


See also

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Air transports of heads of state and government Air transports for heads of state and government are, in many countries, provided by the air force in specially equipped airliners or business jets. One such aircraft in particular has become part of popular culture: Air Force One, used by the ...


References

{{reflist Presidential aircraft Call signs Boeing 747 Boeing 777