Orient Airways Ltd. ( ur, ) was an airline established in 1946 with its base in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. The airline shifted operations to the newly independent state of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

in 1947, and was rechristened as

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines ( ur, ; abbreviated PIA, ur, ) is an international airline that serves as the national flag carrier of Pakistan under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Aviation. It ...

in 1955. It was the first and only

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

owned airline in

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

and flew from 1947 to 1955.

History

The airline was registered in Calcutta,

on 23 October 1946.Civil Appeal nos 172K to 175K, 177K to 182 K of 2009
Judgement of the Supreme Court of Pakistan p. 6. Retrieved 31 October 2015 The initial investment was provided by the Ispahani, Adamjee, and the Arag group.

Mirza Ahmad Ispahani Mirza Ahmad Ispahani (1898–1986) was a Perso-Bengali businessman based in Chittagong and the patriarch of the Ispahani family. He was the founder of Orient Airways and the first chairman of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). He was the ch ...

, being its first chairman, and Air Vice-Marshal O.K. Carter, the general manager, obtained an operating license in May 1947. Four Douglas DC-3s were obtained from

Temple, Texas Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. As of 2020, the city has a population of 82,073 according to the U.S. census, and is one of the two principal cities in Bell County. Located near the county seat of Belton, Temple lies in ...

in February 1947 and operations first started on 4 June 1947. The designated route was

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Sittwe Sittwe (; ; formerly Akyab) is the capital of Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). Sittwe, pronounced ''sait-tway'' in the Rakhine language, is located on an estuarial island created at the confluence of the Kaladan, Mayu, and Lay Mro rivers empt ...

(then known as Akyab)-

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

(Myanmar), which also happened to be the first post-war international operation to be flown by an airline registered in the

. Orient Airways, along with the help of some chartered

BOAC British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the passi ...

aircraft, started relief operations and transportation of the population between

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

and

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

, the capitals of India and Pakistan, respectively. Later, Orient Airways transferred its base to

and established the vital link between Karachi and

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

(Dacca). With a skeleton fleet of just two DC-3s, three crew, and twelve mechanics, Orient Airways re-launched its scheduled operations. The initial routes were

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in Geography of Pakistan, south-west of the country close to the ...

, and

. By the end of 1949, Orient Airways had acquired 10

DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

s and 3

Convair 240 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inro ...

s which it operated on these particular routes. In 1950, it had become increasingly apparent that additional capacity would have to be inducted to cater to the growing needs of the population. On 11 March 1955, the government of Pakistan merged Orient Airways with other airlines to form

Livery

Orient Airways aircraft had a green strip with the word "Orient Airways" or "Orient Skyliner". The tail was marked with the flag of Pakistan after the

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

on 14 August 1947.

Fleet

Orient Airways aircraft fleet consisted of the following aircraft. The aircraft had only Economy Class.

Former fleet

Orient airways aircraft crashed on 13th October 1950 is now a cofee shop

Services

Routes

The following return routes were advised by the Board (1948): * 1. Karachi-Quetta-Lahore * 2. Karachi-Lahore-Rawalpindi-Peshawar * 3. Karachi-Delhi-Allahabad-Calcutta-Dacca-Chittagong * 4. Karachi-Ahmedabad-Bombay * 5. Karachi-Quetta-Zahidan-Meshad-Tehran

Other routes operating

* 1. Karachi-Dacca-Delhi-Karachi (daily service since March 1952) * 2. Karachi-Dacca via Lahore (not sure if it stopped in Lahore on both legs) * 3. Karachi-Multan-Lahore & Return (1952) * 5. Karachi-Delhi-Calcutta-?? (1949)

Airmail

Orient Airways was the designated local carrier for airmail throughout the country. It also carried mail to India. Its services to Dacca were supplemented by BOAC's.

Accidents and incidents

Orient Airways experienced has lost only two aircraft in crashes in 1952 and 1953 respectively. 1950s * In October 1952, Orient Airways carrying cargo flight from Karachi to Dacca was crashed. There were only one of 3 was killed in this crash. * On Monday 3 August 1953, the Douglas DC-3 registered AP-AAD operated on a hajj flight, carrying pilgrims from

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...

via

Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital o ...

and

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

. The leg to Bahrain was to be flown by the first officer from the left-hand seat. Shortly after takeoff the aircraft entered a steep descending turn. The captain took over control but could not recover the aircraft. The Douglas DC-3 struck the ground. There were only one of 25 was killed in this crash. "The accident resulted from the loss of control of the aircraft by the first officer shortly after taking off on a dark night when instrument flying was necessary. This loss of control was due to the inability of the first officer to fly on instruments. The responsibility for the accident is attributed to the captain for failing to supervise the piloting of the aircraft by the first officer."

References

{{Pakistan International Airlines Defunct airlines of Pakistan Airlines established in 1947 Airlines disestablished in 1955 1947 establishments in India Pakistan International Airlines 1955 disestablishments in Pakistan Mergers and acquisitions of Pakistani companies 1955 mergers and acquisitions