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| Founded | 20 January 1981 | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | 1 April 1997 | ||||||
| Fleet size | 21 passenger aircraft 16 agricultural aircraft | ||||||
| Destinations | Northeastern India | ||||||
| Parent company | Indian Airlines Air India | ||||||
| Headquarters | Safdarjung Airport,New Delhi | ||||||
Vayudoot (Hindi:वायुदूत,romanized: Vāyudūt,lit. 'messenger who rides on the wind') was a regional airline inIndia established on 20 January 1981 as a joint venture between the two state-owned carriers,Indian Airlines andAir India.[1] The airline was headquartered atNew Delhi'sSafdarjung Airport and was originally conceived to serveNortheast India.[2][3] The regional hub for the region wasCalcutta and the airline flew to close to 30 destinations in this challenging area. Many of the airfields saw the resumption of commercial flights andfixed-wing aircraft after many decades of their absence.
The airline consistently lost money since its formation due to low occupancy. The government, struggling to find a solution to Vayudoot's continuing financial problems, considered both closure andprivatisation as options, since the carrier's route and fleet structure made the operation unprofitable.[4]
In the late 1970s, the Indian government and its two airlines became aware of the increasing number of potential air travelers in many small towns around the nation. Vayudoot has started to expand India's domestic air transport network on a very large scale, with a completely new network designed to feed Indian Airlines' network at state capitals and other big cities. Therefore, all Vayudoot destinations, apart from its hubs, were completely new, not covered by existing Indian Airlines services.[5]
Vayudoot began operations on 26 January 1981, India's Republic Day, in the remote north-east of the country, linking towns in states such as Assam, Manipur and Tripura. A journey such as one from Lilabari,North Lakhimpur, inAssam state toZiro in the neighbouring state ofArunachal Pradesh could take a few days during bad weather, braving hazards such as avalanches in the hills and flooding in lower lying areas. The 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. Many runways were unpaved strips, and facilities at these airports were very limited.
Its first aircraft were two F27s leased from Indian Airlines and linked 20 destinations. To keep costs low, Vayudoot did not serve in-flight meals and contracted out its ground handling services to local agents at all smaller destinations. Vayudoot supplied basic ground-handling equipment to the agents and trained their staff.[5] Vayudoot started with retired flight crew of Indian Airlines to fly theHS-748 andF27 aircraft. AsDornier 228 were bought or leased, new pilots were recruited. The same held for the core engineering team, which comprised almost all of ex-Indian Airlines engineers.
Vayudoot became a public company in February 1983, owned jointly by Indian Airlines and Air India. At this time, its load factors were less than 50 per cent.[2] Vayudoot's first Dornier 228 began service in 1985 on the Delhi-Raebareli-Lucknow route. A total of ten Dornier 228s were ordered by Vayudoot.[6]
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), andHyderabad. Sub-bases were, at some points of time, established atBhopal inMadhya Pradesh andGuwahati inAssam. 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 rationalising 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.[3]
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.[4] On 1 April 1997 its flight operations were transferred toAlliance Air, which is a newly formed subsidiary ofIndian Airlines since 1996 and its employees were absorbed intoIndian Airlines andAir India.
In 1985, Vayudoot started operating the Inland Night Air Mail Service (NAMS), a domestic overnightairmail service for theIndian Postal Service.[7] 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 uponNagpur Airport in the centre of the country. Usually the routes were:
Despite a successful run of over a year, the service was discontinued because of demanding nature of the operation. The unpressurizedDornier 228 was limited to an altitude of 10,000 ft. The aircraft was dependent on ground-based en route navigational facilities and these were few and far between on many of the legs. Flying exclusively at night and negotiating violent storms calledKal baisakhi, followed by theMonsoon and in the absence ofRadio navigation aids it became advisable to discontinue the operation.
During the early 1990s, Vayudoot used leased aircraft fromRoyal Nepal Airlines andAriana Afghan Airlines to run night metro flights between New Delhi, Bombay and Bangalore. Aircraft such as theBoeing 757 andBoeing 727 were used.
Vayudoot flew to over 100 destinations during its existence.
The airline had four safety incidents during its operational history, including two crashes which resulted in a total of 45 fatalities.[8]
As of March 1991, Vayudoot's passenger services had a total fleet of 23 aircraft.[needs update]
Its Agro Aviation Division had a fleet of one helicopter and sixteen aircraft.[3]
