Air India International First Flight on June 8, 1948 on the Mumbai (Bombay)-London air route

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 date was Tuesday, June 8, 1948 and Air India's aircraft - Malabar Princess, a 40-seater Lockheed L-749 Constellation, registration number, VT-CQS, with Captain K.R. Guzdar in command - was in the final stages of preparation for its 5,000 mile journey from Mumbai to London via Cairo and Geneva. The flight's time of departure was late in the evening and of the 35 passengers that were to board the flight, 29 were bound for London and six for Geneva.
Months of meticulous planning had finally paid off. General preparations for the flight had been under way for a long time. Air India had the requisite experience of flying on domestic routes. However, some extra effort had to be put in order to fly on an international sector. Carefully selected staff members were allotted to the new operation, new staff  were recruited and Air India offices were opened in Cairo, Geneva and London. The Cairo office was set up by Mr F. Nariman; Mr G. Bertoli took charge of the Geneva operations and London was headed by Mr M.A.S. Dalal where Air India had a very small set-up at London airport with the Operations and Engineering Departments housed in temporary hutments and the Traffic Department in a caravan which was parked somewhere behind the old control tower.