The Second coin to be released was to mark the 100 Years of Civil Aviation in India. The coin was released by President during a function on 17th October 2011. The Celebrations began way earlier in February itself.
The details of the coins released are as below;
The Rs 5 was the first circulation commemorative to have the new Rupee symbol that was earlier adopted in the year 2011 on definitive coins and currencies.
Advert for the Celebration was released on 18th February 2011. A new logo for the landmark was created. It shows 100 Numberal with a Plane on top.
Press Release giving milestones
The Ministry of Civil Aviation of the Government of India is responsible for the regulation of civil aviation in India.The Ministry of Civil Aviation is the nodal Ministry responsible for the formulation of national policies and programmes for development and regulation of Civil Aviation and for devising and implementing schemes for the orderly growth and expansion of civil air transport. Its functions also extend to overseeing airport facilities, air traffic services and carriage of passengers and goods by air. The Ministry also administers implementation of the Aircraft Act, 1934 and is administratively responsible for the Commission of Railways Safety.
The history of Civil Aviation in India began On 18 February, 1911 the first commercial civil aviation flight took place in India between Allahabad and Naini, a distance of 6 miles when Henri Piquet carried 6500 mails on a Humber biplane. This is considered to be the world’s first airmail service and the beginning of civil aviation in India.
The first passenger flight in India began in December 1912. This was with the opening of the first domestic air route between Karachi and Delhi by the Indian state Air services in collaboration with the imperial Airways, UK, though it was a mere extension of London-Karachi flight of the latter airline.
In 1915 Tata Sons Ltd. started regular air mail services between Karachi and Madras and on January 24, 1920 Royal Airforce started regular airmail services between Karachi and Bombay.
Construction of Civil Airports in India started in 1924. Constructions began in Calcutta at Dum Dum, Allahabad at Bamrauli and in Bombay in Gilbert Hill
April 1927 saw the setting up of a separate Department of Civil Aviation to look after all civil aviation matters.
The Indian Aircraft Act was promulgated in 1934 and was formulated in 1937. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited(HAL) set up by Walchand Hirachand in association with the then Mysore Government in 1940 at Bangalore.
At the time of independence, the number of air transport companies, which were operating within and beyond the frontiers of the company, carrying both air cargo and passengers, was nine. It was reduced to eight, with Orient Airways shifting to Pakistan. These airlines were: Tata Airlines, Indian National Airways, Air service of India, Deccan Airways, Ambica Airways, Bharat Airways and Mistry Airways.
In 1948 Prem Mathur became the first woman commercial pilot and started flying for Deccan Airways. She obtained her commercial pilot’s license in 1947
In March 1953 the Indian Parliament passed the Air Corporations Act, and Indian Airlines and Air India International were set up after nationalisation of the entire airline industry. At this time eight formerly independent domestic airlines: Deccan Airways, Airways India, Bharat Airways, Himalyan Aviation, Kalinga Air Lines, Indian National Airways, Air India, Air Services of India were merged.
In early 1948, a joint sector company, Air India International Ltd., was established by the Government of India and Air India (earlier Tata Airline) with a capital of Rs 2 crore and a fleet of three Lockheed constellation aircraft. Its first flight took off on June 8, 1948 on the Mumbai (Bombay)-London air route. At the time of its nationalization in 1953, it was operating four weekly services between Mumbai-London and two weekly services between Mumbai and Nairobi. The joint venture was headed by J.R.D. Tata, a visionary who had founded the first India airline in 1932 and he himself piloted its inaugural flight. J.R.D. Tata also holds the distinction of being the first Indian to be awarded a Piolt’s license. J.R.D Tata is often referred to as “Father of Indian Aviation” for his immense contribution to this industry.
The soaring prices of aviation fuel, mounting salary bills and disproportionately large fleets took a heavy toll of the then airlines. The financial health of companies declined despite liberal Government patronage, particularly from 1949, and an upward trend in air cargo and passenger traffic. The trend, however, was not in keeping with the expectations of these airlines which had gone on an expansion spree during the post-World War II period, acquiring aircraft ad spares. The Government set up the Air Traffic Enquiry Committee in 1950 to look into the problems of the airline. Though the Committee found no justification for nationalization of airlines, it favored their voluntary merger. Such a merger, however, was not welcomed by the airlines. The Government finally merged all the entities and nationalized the Civil Aviation.
It was only in the year 1990, when the Open-sky policy came in April 1990. The policy allowed air taxi- operators to operate flights from any airport, both on a charter and a non charter basis and to decide their own flight schedules, cargo and passenger fares. The operators were, however, required to use aircraft with a minimum of 15 seats and conform to the prescribed rules. In 1990, the private air taxi-operators carried 15,000 passengers. This number increased to 4.1 lakh in 1992, 29.2 lakh in 1993, 36 lakh in 1994 and 48.9 lakh in 1995.The 1996, private air taxi operators carried 49.08 lakh passengers which amounted to a 41.14 per cent share in the domestic air passenger traffic. Quite a few operators viz NEPC Airlines, Skyline NEPC, Jet Air, Archana Airways, Sahara India Airlines, Modiluft , East West Airlines and Damania Airways began operations. However not all was well and the high operation cost and market not yet mature of such a high number of airlines, resulted in quite a few going burst in a short span of time. Two out of seven scheduled air taxi operators suspended their operations in 1996 because of the non-availability of aircraft.
The Year 2003 saw the ushering in the ‘Low Cost Carriers’ in the country when Air Deccan started its services. It was soon followed by other airlines like Indigo, Spice Jet, Kingfisher, Paramount airlines, Goair. However not all is well in the Civil Aviaiton Industry that has seen quite a few mergers and large airlines in red and cash strapped. Even the Government run Airlines is not in good health. There are still some testing times ahead for the industry.
Release Function
Special Set:
Coins of Rs 100 and Rs 5
Proof Set: Coins of Rs 100 and Rs 5
UNC Set: Coins of Rs 100 and Rs 5
Please refer to the Next Post
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