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Airlines of the Past: The Regional Wings
- Maanav Parikh
- Oct 27
- 4 min read
As an Avgeek for many years, I have had most of my attention only to the glamorous side of aviation focusing mainly on luxurious million dollar worth aircraft with bespoke interior flying premium routes, However, today we wont be focusing on that. Instead, we will be looking at aviations silent heros, they may not be the most fancy or operate on popular routes but are nevertheless important, shaping the connectivity of India.
In more dramatic words, they are the silent heros of the aviation world that shape the very way people travel. In this blog, I will be talking about the forgotten and lesser known regional workhoarses of the past and present and see how they shaped the way we travelled.
India’s First Regional Rendezvous
In the late 70s, as the population of India increased, the government realized a need for better air connectivity, especially to the untouched northeastern parts of India where flights were rather scarce. Indian Airlines, the state-owned domestic airline, operated a few regional routes using the F27 and HS768, but they were just a handful.
Seeing this gap, the government-owned Air India and Indian Airlines came together to form a new regional airline serving these unserved areas named Vayudoot. Vayudoot is a Hindi word that roughly translates to "messenger of the wind." It began operations in 1981 with old Indian Airlines crew to sectors in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh with ex-Indian Airlines F27 and HS768. To keep costs low and tickets affordable, Vayudoot did not offer meals and used local contractors for ground handling. It inducted its first Dornier 228 in 1985, which would later become the backbone of the fleet. Eventually, the airline reached 100 destinations and was even tagged as one of the fastest-growing airlines in India.
Vayudoot, with its expansive network, connected a lot of cities and airstrips which did not see service for years, thus boosting regional connectivity, especially in the northeast with Calcutta and even Guwahati being major hubs to the Northeast. The in turn fostered economic growth, tourism, and social integration. By offering vital air transport services to people in isolated and underserved areas, it helped bridge the divide between rural communities and urban centers.
However, despite its initial success, Vayudoot was maybe too ahead of its time as the airline constantly bled money and eventually ceased operations in 1997. For the time it was there, the airline was a vision, a vision that every Indian would get its wings, but maybe, it was too ahead of its time.
India’s Unsung Connector
As the 90s rolled around, the Indian market changed into a more dynamic and competitive landscape. As both the incomes and populations rose, demand for air travel rose as well. Seeing this, Indian Airlines created Alliance Air, a low-cost feeder airline not only aimed at connecting secondary cities in India but to also better utilize the 737 fleet that the airline had. Eventually, vayudoot intergrated into Alliance air in 1997 giving the airline an aresnal of turboprops to reconnect the northeast once again.
Business was running as usual for the airline as it gradually bought ATR42s to increase connectivity until 2007, when Indian Airlines amalgamated with Air India, Alliance Air joined the family, momentarily rebranded as Air India Regional.
Another significant change occurred in 2017 with the advent of the newly established scheme, UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik), and Alliance Air suddenly became the backbone — the backbone of India's regional connectivity strategy. While private carriers experimented and failed, Alliance Air discreetly upheld its promise of affordable travel. It traveled to places like Kullu, Pantnagar, Shillong, and Agatti where no other airline would, keeping the promise of connectedness alive (Fun fact:Alliance Air operates to Kullu, one of the highest altitude scheduled flights in India).
Alliance Air, India's sole surviving government-owned passenger airline, became a rare relic after Air India was privatized. It might not be as flashy as a Vistara or as large as IndiGo, but it does have a legacy of flying to locations that people didn't know existed.
In 2025, the airline launched its Fare se Fursat (Freedom from fare) scheme which allowed passangers could now take advantage of clear, fixed fares that don't change regardless of when you book, even for last-minute trips which goes to show the airlines willingness to go to places where no one does!
Wings for Every Wallet
Launched in 2017, the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) sceme had been instrumental in shaping air travel for the common man like never before.
Viability Gap Funding (VGF), in which the government partially subsidizes the expense to maintain low fares, is used to bid on airlines to run certain routes. To keep flying affordable for the typical traveler, ticket prices are set at a maximum of ₹2,500 for a one-hour flight. Airstrips in tiny cities like Shimla, Pantnagar, and Jeypore have been revitalized thanks to the more than 70 airports and more than 450 routes that have been operationalized since its inception.
The UDAN plan has played an important role in expanding aviation beyond metropolitan areas, connecting regions that formerly relied on long road or rail connections. Despite financial and operational hurdles, new airlines such as Star Air and Fly91 and major players like Indigo are investing in the industry and pursuing the vision of cheap regional connectivity. The initiative has not only increased tourist and local economies, but it has also provided a much-needed boost to airport infrastructure development across India, demonstrating that even short routes may have a long-term benefit.
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