Vayudoot
Encyclopedia
Vayudoot was an airline in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 established on 20 January 1981 as a joint-venture between the two state-owned carriers, Indian Airlines and Air India
Air India
Air India is the flag carrier airline of India. It is part of the government of India owned Air India Limited . The airline operates a fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft serving Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. Its corporate office is located at the Air India Building at Nariman...

. The airline was headquartered at New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...

's Safdarjung Airport
Safdarjung Airport
Safdarjung Airport also is an airport in New Delhi, India, in the neighbourhood of the same name. Established during the British Raj, as Willingdon Airfield, it started operations as an airport in 1929, when was the India's second airport and Delhi’s only airport...

.

The airline was originally conceived to serve the Northeastern region of India where the surface transport facilities were inadequate and surface routes were circuitous. The regional hub for the NE was Calcutta (now Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...

) and the airline built up operations to close to 30 destinations in this challenging region. Many of the airfields saw the resumption civil flights and fixed wing aircraft after a gap of many decades. A journey such as one from Lilabari (aka North Lakhimpur
North Lakhimpur
North Lakhimpur is a city in India and a municipal board in Lakhimpur district in the North Eastern state Assam, about north east of Guwahati...

) in Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...

 state to Ziro
Ziro
Ziro is a census town in Lower Subansiri district in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.-Geography:Ziro is the district headquarter of Lower Subansiri district and is one of the oldest towns in Arunachal Pradesh. It was the headquarters of the undivided Subansiri district comprising the present...

 in the neighbouring state of Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh is a state of India, located in the far northeast. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south, and shares international borders with Burma in the east, Bhutan in the west, and the People's Republic of China in the north. The majority of the territory is claimed by...

 could take a few days during inclement weather, braving hazards such as avalanches in the hills and flooding in lower lying areas. Flight, on the other hand was as short as 12 minutes, though weather could cause disruptions because this was flying where Visual contact had to be maintained with the ground/terrain in the absence of reliable aids for Navigation. The weather caused poor visibility on account of heavy rains and low clouds and/or fog and could at times result in waterlogged runways.

History

Vayudoot started with retired flight crew of Indian Airlines to fly the HS-748 and F-27 aircraft. As Dornier Do-228 were bought / leased, new pilots were recruited. The same held for the core engineering team as well, which comprised almost all of ex-Indian Airlines engineers.

Subsequently,the services of Vayudoot were extended to other regions, charting 100 stations in the country earning the sobriquet "worlds fastest growing airline". Vayudoot quickly established hubs at Bombay (now Mumbai), Delhi, Madras (now Chennai), and Hyderabad. Sub-bases were, at some points of time, established at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....

 and Gauhati in Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...

. The lack of adequate traffic to sustain operations on all these routes adversely affected the company's financial performance. After a review, the number of stations on the operational network was brought down to 48 on 31 March 1991. Vayudoot was then focused on consolidating its operations and rationaling its fare structure rather than embark on large scale expansion of its network. Its operations were again primarily restricted to the Northeastern region and other inaccessible areas.

In 1985, Vayudoot started operating the Inland Night Air Mail Service (NAMS), a domestic overnight airmail
Airmail
Airmail is mail that is transported by aircraft. It typically arrives more quickly than surface mail, and usually costs more to send...

 service for the Indian Postal Service
Indian Postal Service
The Department of Posts functioning under the brand name India Post , is a government operated postal system in India; it is generally referred to within India as "the post office"....

. The facility of this Vayudoot airmail service was also extended to a private courier. Every night, flights from the major metropolitan cities of India converged upon Nagpur in the centre of the country. Usually the routing was :
  • Delhi-Jaipur-Nagpur
  • Calcutta-Varanasi-Nagpur
  • Bombay-Nagpur
  • Madras-Hyderabad-Nagpur


Despite a successful run of over a year, the service was discontinued because of demanding nature of the operation. The unpressurised DO-228 was limited to an altitude of 10,000 ft. The aircraft was dependent on ground based enroute navigational facilities and these were far and few between on many of the legs. Flying exclusively at night and negotiating violent storms called [Kal Baisakhi ](Nor'wester), followed by the monsoon
Monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...

 and in the absence of Radio Navigation
Radio navigation
Radio navigation or radionavigation is the application of radio frequencies to determine a position on the Earth. Like radiolocation, it is a type of radiodetermination.The basic principles are measurements from/to electric beacons, especially...

 aids it became advisable discontinue the operation.

Mail was also carried between:
  • Madras-Neyveli-Pondicherry
  • Madras-Tanjore


Vayudoot also operated an Agro Aviation Division which was involved in aerial spraying operations, seeding and afforestation operations.

Vayudoot's financial performance continued to deteriorate which finally led to the dissolution of the company and merger of its assets into Indian Airlines in 1993. On 1 April 1997 its flight operations were transferred to Indian Airlines and its employees were absorbed into Indian Airlines and Air India.

Accident/Incidents

The airline had four safety incidents during its operational history, including two crashes which resulted in a total of 45 fatalities.

Fleet

As of March 1991, Vayudoot's passenger services had a fleet of eight Dornier Do 228-201
Dornier Do 228
The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, manufactured by Dornier GmbH from 1981 until 1998. In 1983, Hindustan Aeronautics bought a production licence and manufactures the 228 for the Asian market sphere. Approximately 270 Do 228 were built at Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany and...

 aircraft, eight Avro
Avro
Avro was a British aircraft manufacturer, with numerous landmark designs such as the Avro 504 trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the delta wing Avro Vulcan, a stalwart of the Cold War.-Early history:One of the world's...

 and five Fokker F27-100 "Friendship" aircraft. Its Agro Aviation Division had a fleet of one helicopter and sixteen aircraft.

External links

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