Air-India International Collectables on display

The J.R.D. Tata Memorial Trust held it's annual affair at the Taj Lands End Hotel in Mumbai yesterday. I was invited to exhibit some items from our collection. The theme we selected was the The Air-India International era (1948-1962). Air-India International started flying on 8 June 1948 and changed it’s name to Air-India exactly 14 years later on 8 June 1962.

This was a glorious era, as our newly independent nation found expression in modernity and the airline earned it’s reputation as the finest in the world.
 Here we focused on a selection of Air-India International memorabilia from these years, and tied these up with the principal routes developed by the airline during these years. These routes (with start date) were:

• Bombay – London (1948)
• Bombay – Nairobi (1950)
• Bombay – Tokyo (1955)
• Bombay – Sydney (1956)
• Bombay – Moscow (1958)

The exhibit itself consisted of several items including travel posters, timetables, baggage tags and decals, the famous in-flight service coasters, stationary, first flight covers, route maps etc. etc. On account of the limited space available we could not display many of the 3-dimensional objects like aeroplane models, Maharajah statues etc.
The great news is that Air-India plans to set up a permanent museum and gallery in the ground floor of their Nariman Point office in Mumbai, and has a team working on it. This will display their renowned art collection, as well as their own airline memorabilia. Looking forward to the big day!
Meanwhile, please enjoy some pictures of the event.

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