The last month of airplane has been eventful to say the least. This week we feature unusual or rare aircraft and events from Bangalore.
Memories of Air India always invoke visions of The Maharajah, and no aircraft in the Air India fleet symbolises it better than the Boeing 747. Air India was one of the earliest adopters of the Jumbo Jet, and my first memories of flying was in 1972 from Bombay (now Mumbai) to New Delhi on board its first Boeing 747-200B named Emperor Ashoka, registration VT-EBD.
Air India used to fly a 747 to Bangalore almost 10 years ago, but it was replaced by an Airbus A310, and then Bangalore became the exclusive domain of the erstwhile Indian Airlines which even today operates its international services from Bangalore using an Airbus A319.
There was a buzz of excitement when on October 27th, Air India brought in its Boeing 747-400 Ajanta, registration VT-ESP on a special charter to transport pilgrims performing the Haj.