Indian Airlines was the domestic arm of Air India, the national carrier of India. Air India was formerly known as Tata Airlines, which was founded by Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, and later nationalized by the Government of India in 1953.
The following image is of a boarding pass of Indian Airlines for a flight from Guwahati to Kolkata on the 3rd of March (possibly in the 1980s).
Contributor: Subhradeep Chatterjee
Indian Airlines Boarding Pass. Subhradeep Chatterjee.
The airline was born out of a merger of the domestic airlines of the time; the international routes were catered to by Air India while its domestic division merged with seven other airlines (Deccan Airways, Airways India, Bharat Airways, Himalayan Aviation, Kalinga Air Lines, Indian National Airways and Air Services of India) to form “Indian Airlines”. Its IATA airline code was "IC".
The backside of the boarding pass contains a stamp of “Borjhar” which indicates that the boarding point was in Guwahati; the airport of the city is known as Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport which is located in the Borjhar area. It was formerly known as Borjhar Airport.
[Image Description: The boarding pass is green in colour and rectangular in shape; it is a bit larger than a standard credit card. It contains English text accompanied by their Hindi counterparts.
The right top contains the text “Boarding Pass” in capitals along with the airplane model: Boeing 737. The left top has the same information in Hindi, with Boarding Pass being translated as “Prabesh Patra”. The left bottom contains the logo of Indian Airlines (a stylized “IA”) along with the same name in English and Hindi.
While the boarding pass contains printed text like “Flight/Date”, “Front/Back”and “Entrance” on middle left and a box with the text “Seat” on the middle right, a blue stamped text runs across the middle and reads “21 3MAR 18” which might indicate 21 as the Entrance, 3MAR as the Date and 18 as possibly the seat number. On the right of “Flight/Date” is printed “IC” which was its IATA airline code.]
Additional Resources:
“Birth of Indian Airlines and Air India: Remembering the day when all airlines in India were nationalized.” India Today. URL: https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/indian-airlines-nationalisation-day-air-india-august-1953-air-corporation-act-1302436-2018-08-01
“History - The Father of Indian Aviation”. Airlines - IATA. URL: https://airlines.iata.org/blog/2011/08/history-the-father-of-indian-aviation
