Vayudoot
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Airline |
| Founded | January 20, 1981 |
| Founder | Indian Airlines and Air India (collaborative enterprise) |
| Defunct | 1993 |
| Fate | Closure and asset absorption into Indian Airlines; flight operations transferred to Alliance Air in 1997 |
| Headquarters | New Delhi , India |
Area served | Northeast India and other regional destinations across India |
| Products | Regional air transport services, Agro Aviation Division (aerial crop spraying, seeding, afforestation) |
| Parent | Jointly owned by Indian Airlines and Air India (from 1983) |
Vayudoot () was an Indian regional carrier founded on 20 January 1981 as a collaborative enterprise between the government-owned Indian Airlines and Air India. With its headquarters situated at Safdarjung Airport, New Delhi, the airline primarily focused on servicing Northeast India. Operating out of its regional base in Calcutta, it connected nearly 30 destinations. The airline played a crucial role in reinstating commercial air services to several airports that had been inactive for extended periods.
Despite its important strategic function, Vayudoot struggled financially due to persistently low passenger loads. The government considered shutting down the airline or pursuing privatisation alternatives, as the existing route network and fleet composition failed to generate profits.
History
During the late 1970s, Indian authorities and national carriers identified increasing demand for air travel in smaller urban centers. To address this, Vayudoot was established to broaden India's domestic aviation reach by feeding traffic into Indian Airlines hubs at state capitals and major cities, while also opening routes to previously unserved destinations.
Operations commenced on 26 January 1981 in the remote northeast region, linking towns across Assam, Manipur, and Tripura. These flights replaced arduous multi-day journeys with brief 12-minute trips, although frequent weather-related interruptions occurred due to limited navigational technology and rudimentary airport facilities.
The airline launched with two leased F27 aircraft servicing 20 locations. To minimize expenses, onboard meals were discontinued and ground handling was outsourced to local agencies equipped with basic tools and training. Initial flight crews and maintenance staff were largely retired personnel from Indian Airlines; additional pilots and engineers were recruited as Dornier 228 aircraft were introduced.
In February 1983, Vayudoot became a publicly held company jointly owned by Indian Airlines and Air India, operating with load factors below 50%. Its first Dornier 228 entered service in 1985 on the Delhi-Raebareli-Lucknow sector; ultimately, ten such aircraft were procured.
The carrier’s network expanded swiftly to encompass 100 stations, earning it the moniker "world's fastest growing airline," with principal hubs in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Hyderabad alongside secondary bases in Bhopal and Guwahati. Nevertheless, inadequate passenger volumes negatively impacted financial results. By March 1991, the route map was trimmed back to 48 stations to concentrate on operational consolidation and fare optimization, primarily focusing on the Northeast and other hard-to-reach areas.
Additionally, Vayudoot operated an Agro Aviation Division responsible for aerial crop spraying, seeding operations, and afforestation projects.
Persistent financial difficulties culminated in Vayudoot’s closure and asset absorption into Indian Airlines in 1993. Subsequently, on 1 April 1997, its flight operations were transferred to Alliance Air—a subsidiary of Indian Airlines established in 1996—with employees integrated into Indian Airlines and Air India.
Night Air Mail Service
In 1985, Vayudoot initiated the Inland Night Air Mail Service (NAMS), an overnight domestic airmail operation conducted for the Indian Postal Department. This service also accommodated private courier companies. Nightly flights from major metropolitan centers converged at Nagpur Airport; common routes included Delhi-Jaipur-Nagpur, Calcutta-Varanasi-Nagpur, Bombay-Nagpur, and Madras-Hyderabad-Nagpur.
Despite operating for over a year, NAMS was discontinued due to operational difficulties. The unpressurized Dornier 228 aircraft were restricted to altitudes of around 10,000 ft and depended on limited ground-based navigation aids. Flying at night during severe weather conditions such as Kal baisakhi storms and monsoon rains without radio navigation support rendered continuation impossible.
In the early 1990s, Vayudoot leased Boeing 757 and 727 aircraft from Royal Nepal Airlines and Ariana Afghan Airlines to operate night flights between New Delhi, Bombay, and Bangalore metropolitan airports.
Destinations
Vayudoot connected more than 100 locations across India, prioritizing regional air service within several important states:
- Andhra Pradesh: Hyderabad (Begumpet), Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati
- Arunachal Pradesh: Along, Pasighat, Tezu
- Assam: Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Jorhat
- Delhi: Indira Gandhi International Airport
- Gujarat: Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat
- Haryana: Chandigarh
- Himachal Pradesh: Dharamsala, Shimla
- Karnataka: Bangalore (HAL Airport), Mangalore, Mysore
- Kerala: Kochi, Trivandrum
- Madhya Pradesh: Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior
- Maharashtra: Mumbai (Chhatrapati Shivaji International), Nagpur, Pune
- Tamil Nadu: Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai
- West Bengal: Kolkata (Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International)
This wide-reaching route network formed the foundation of Vayudoot’s approach to improving air connectivity in regions that were previously underserved.
Accident/Incidents
Throughout its operational history, Vayudoot encountered four notable safety events, including two fatal crashes that collectively claimed 45 lives.
- 22 September 1988 – A Dornier 228 (VT-EJT) suffered a hard landing in Aurungabad but resulted in no casualties.
- 23 September 1988 – A Fokker F27 (VT-DMB) struck a catering truck at Calcutta airport; while the truck occupants sustained serious injuries, passengers and crew were unharmed.
- 19 October 1988 – A Fokker F27 (VT-DMC) crashed near Guwahati during an approach amid adverse weather conditions, causing the death of all 34 passengers and crew onboard.
- 23 September 1989 – A Dornier 228 (VT-EJF) impacted a reservoir close to Ujani Dam after encountering a microburst; all 11 individuals on board perished.
Fleet
By March 1991, Vayudoot’s passenger aircraft inventory included a total of 23 planes:
- 10 Dornier 228-201 models
- 8 Hawker Siddeley HS 748 "Avro" aircraft
- 5 Fokker F27-100 "Friendship" planes
Additionally, its Agro Aviation Division managed a fleet consisting of one helicopter alongside sixteen fixed-wing aircraft.