Air Services of India was a private airline based at Juhu Aerodrome in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, in India. The airline was merged into the

Indian Airlines Indian Airlines was a division of Air India Limited. It was based in Delhi and focused primarily on domestic routes, along with several international services to neighbouring countries in Asia. It was a division of Air India Limited after m ...

Corporation in 1953.

History Of Aeroplane Service

The airline was formed in 1936 and initially served routes on the

Kathiawar Kathiawar () is a peninsula, near the far north of India's west coast, of about bordering the Arabian Sea. It is bounded by the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest and by the Gulf of Khambhat (Gulf of Cambay) in the east. In the northeast, it is ...

Peninsula and to

Poona Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

. with aircraft like the

de Havilland Dragonfly The de Havilland DH.90 Dragonfly is a 1930s British twin-engined luxury touring biplane built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company at Hatfield Aerodrome. Development The Dragonfly shares a clear family resemblance with the Dragon Rapide, but ...

, Airspeed Courier,

Percival Vega Gull The Percival Vega Gull was a 1930s British, four-seater touring aircraft built by Percival Aircraft Limited. It was a single-engine, low-wing (Folding), wood-and-fabric monoplane with a fixed tailwheel undercarriage. Design and development B ...

s and

de Havilland Fox Moth The DH.83 Fox Moth was a successful small biplane passenger aircraft from the 1930s powered by a single de Havilland Gipsy Major I inline inverted engine, manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. The aircraft was designed late in 1 ...

s. In the beginning of 1939, it opened a new line between

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarter of the Kolhapur district. In, around 2 C.E. Kolapur's name was 'Kuntal'. Kolhapur is kn ...

and Juhu Aerodrome in Mumbai. The thrice a week service was officially inaugurated by the Maharaja of Kolhapur, who showed considerable interest in the project, subsidised the service and built an airport at Kolhapur. In 1941, Air Services of India was purchased by

The Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd. The Scindia Steam Navigation Company, founded in 1919, is the second oldest shipping company of India. The first being the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company of VOC Pillai in today's Tamilnadu that was founded in 1906. History Foundation an ...

and became known as the Scindia line. Services resumed on 3 May 1946 after World War 2 with a small fleet of

De Havilland Dragon Rapide The de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide is a 1930s short-haul biplane airliner developed and produced by British aircraft company de Havilland. Capable of accommodating 6–8 passengers, it proved an economical and durable craft, despite its rela ...

s and 11 former

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

Douglas C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...

s converted for civilian use. Air Services of India was the only airline using the French-built Sud-Ouest Corse for civilian purposes, having two of them in their fleet. By 1953, when the Air Corporations Act was passed, it had an extensive network from Cochin to Lucknow and became Line 7 of the Indian Airlines Corporation.

Destinations

Air Services of India served cities mostly in the Western regions of British India including Karachi which is now in Pakistan. *India **

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

***

Bhavnagar Bhavnagar is a city in the Bhavnagar district of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, a States of India, state of India. It was founded in 1723 by Gohil Koli, Bhavsinhji Takhtasinhji Gohil (1703–1764). It was the capital of Bhavnagar State, whi ...

Bhavnagar Airport Bhavnagar Aerodrome is an airport located 4 kilometres (2 mi) southeast of Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India. It covers at an elevation of . It is near Bhavnagar Harbour Bhavnagar airstrip year 1961 . Facilities ;Runway The airport has on ...

***

Bhuj Bhuj () is a Municipality and District Headquarters of Kutch District in the state of Gujarat, India. Etymology According to legend, Kutch was ruled by the Nāga chieftains in the past. Sagai, a queen of Sheshapattana, who was married to Kin ...

Bhuj Airport Bhuj Airport is a domestic airport located in Bhuj in the Kutch District of the state of Gujarat, India. It is located 4 km from Bhuj. It is situated at an altitude of and occupies a total area of . It is located from the Indo-Pakista ...

***

Jamnagar Jamnagar () is a city located on the western coast of India in the state of Gujarat of Saurashtra (region), Saurashtra region. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jamnagar district and the fifth largest city in Gujarat. The city lies ...

- Jamnagar Airport ***

Keshod Keshod is a town (Now a City) and a Taluka in Junagadh District. History on the name It has been told by many old aged people of this city that the name of the city came from a very interesting incident happened during the Mahabharata time. K ...

Keshod Airport Keshod AirportKeshod (Junagarh) Airport
at

Porbandar Porbandar is a city in the States and territories of India, Indian state of Gujarat, perhaps best known for being the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi and Sudama. It is the administrative center of the Porbandar District and it was the former capi ...

- Porbandar Airport ***Rajkot - Rajkot Airport **Karnataka ***Bangalore - Bangalore Airport ***Belgaum - Belgaum Airport **Kerala ***Kochi - Willingdon Island Airport **Madhya Pradesh ***Indore - Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport ***Gwalior - Gwalior Airport **Maharashtra ***

- Juhu Aerodrome ''Hub'' ***Pune - Pune International Airport **Uttar Pradesh ***Kanpur - Kanpur Airport ***Lucknow - Amausi International Airport *Pakistan ***Karachi - Karachi Airport

Incidents and Accidents

On 25 January 1950, A C-47 registered as VT-CPQ, carrying cargo crashed on take-off at Shella Airport. There were no casualties. On 9 May 1953, A C-47 registered as VT-AXD, crashed on take-off at Juhu Airport causing the aircraft to be written off. The undercarriage was retracted before the aircraft became airborne on its takeoff roll causing the aircraft to drop back on its belly. There were no casualties.

References

{{Airlines of India Defunct airlines of India Airlines established in 1936 Airlines disestablished in 1953