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ments in my career where I was privileged JRD Tata’s dream was now to operate a
to be witness to the evolution of airfreight daily flight from Bombay to London. This
forwarding and express, from its rudi- became possible with the first Lockheed
mentary beginnings to the sophisticated, Constellations acquired in 1946 by Air
tech-intensive, multi-modal, globally inter- India (the re-christened Tata Airlines).
connected business it has become today. The DC-3 Dakotas and Vikings in Tata
Though AFL is often regarded as a Airlines’ fleet were now converted to carry
pioneer in the industry, our achievements freight, each with a payload of two tonnes.
owe their origin to two of my remarkable This might seem miniscule, but compare
predecessors, my grandfather Nusserwanji that with the total mail and cargo carried
and my father Jamshed (known to most as in Tata Airlines’ first full year of operations
Jimmy) Guzder in 1933 – two tonnes in total!
Those of you, who are familiar with Jimmy was appointed by Mr. Tata to The DC-3 Dakotas
the aviation scene in India, will recall that promote and sell passenger and cargo and Vikings in
iconic photograph, taken on 15th October business in his personal capacity on these
1932, at Juhu aerodrome, recording the flights, as Air India’s first Commission Tata Airlines’
moments after JRD Tata stepped out of Agent. When IATA accreditation began in
his twin-seater De Havilland Puss Moth, 1947, Jimmy transferred his licences to his fleet were now
having flown the first leg of a historic company, which he then called Airfreight converted to carry
flight from Karachi to Mumbai, then on to Limited, and so our company became
Madras (Chennai). the first IATA cargo and passenger sales freight, each with
Nusserwanji can be seen in this pic- agency in India. a payload of two
ture, in his traditional Parsi dress, eyes This was the moment when civil
focussed on the bags just unloaded aviation truly began in India (the earlier tonnes. This might
from the co-pilots seat, all of 75 kg. This unique Tata Airlines service had to be seem miniscule,
marked the beginning of Tata Airlines’ aborted when the Second World War
cargo service to connect the mail of commenced). This also marked the formal but compare that
the Indian Postal Service with the Royal incorporation of Airfreight Limited, though
Mail, which was carried from Britain to its the company was, in fact, a continuation with the total mail
colonies in the Far East by Imperial Air- of over half a century of transport-related and cargo carried
ways, the predecessor of British Airways. services to, from and within India.
All at once, mail from India could reach By the time I joined the Company in in Tata Airlines’
London in three days, compared with 20 1968, Airfreight Limited was performing all first full year of
days on the P&O ships. manner of services for Air India, includ-
Nusserwanji had served the House of ing ground-handling and issuing delivery operations in 1933
Tata since the beginning of the century, orders; and as more and more airlines
handling the clearing and forwarding of commenced flights to India (TWA was the – two tonnes in
the 60 tonne turbo-stators from GE Chi- first in 1948) we provided similar services total!
cago to Bombay Port, and on to the Tata to thirty and more international airlines.
Power stations at Khopoli, which brought Our presence at Bombay airport was
electricity for the first time to Bombay so dominant, that we were frequently
in 1906. This business was enlarged by called (much to my chagrin) a depart-
my father Jimmy, so that by Independ- ment of Air India!
ence in 1947, our company was, in today’s In the late ‘60s however, the internation-
parlance, the logistics partner of Tata’s al cargo scene was not too exciting, even
projects in Western India, though Air India, having now introduced

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