An airline provides air transport services for passengers or freight, generally with a recognized operating certificate or license. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit.
Airlines vary from those with a single airplane carrying mail or cargo, through full-service international airlines operating hundreds of airplanes. Airline services can be categorized as being intercontinental, intra continental, domestic, or international and may be operated as scheduled services or charters.
Asian airline industry:
Air India Boeing 747-400. Founded by J. R. D. Tata as Tata Airlines in 1932.
India wasone of the first countries to embrace civil aviation.[12] One of the first Asian airline companies was Air India, which had its beginning as Tata Airlines in 1932, a division of Tata Sons Ltd. (now Tata Group)Air India Boeing 747-400. Founded by J. R. D. Tata as Tata Airlines in 1932.
India was . The airline was founded by India's leading industrialist, JRD Tata. On October 15, 1932, J. R. D. Tata himself flew a single engined De Havilland Puss Moth carrying air mail (postal mail of Imperial Airways) from Karachi to Bombay via Ahmedabad. The aircraft continued to Madras via Bellary piloted by Royal Air Force pilot Nevill Vincent. Tata Airlines was also one of the world's first major airlines which began its operations without any support from the Government.
Philippine Airlines was founded on February 26, 1941, making it one of Asia's oldest carriers and also the oldest operating under its current name. The airline was started by a group of businessmen led by Andres Soriano, hailed as one of the Philippines' leading industrialists at the time. The airline’s first flight was made on March 15, 1941 with a single Beech Model 18 NPC-54 aircraft, which started its daily services between Manila (from Nielson Field) and Baguio, later to expand with larger aircraft such as the DC-3 and Vickers Viscount.
With the outbreak of World War II, the airline presence in Asia came to a relative halt, with many new flag carriers donating their aircraft for military aid and other uses. Following the end of the war in 1945, regular commercial service was restored in India and Tata Airlines became a public limited company on July 29, 1946 under the name Air India. After the independence of India, 49% of the airline was acquired by the Government of India. In return, the airline was granted status to operate international services from India as the designated flag carrier under the name Air India International.
On July 31, 1946, a chartered Philippine Airlines (PAL) DC-4 ferried 40 American servicemen to Oakland, California from Nielson Airport in Makati City with stops in Guam, Wake Island, Johnston Atoll and Honolulu, Hawaii, making PAL the first Asian airline to cross the Pacific Ocean. A regular service between Manila and San Francisco was started in December. It was during this year that the airline was designated as the flag carrier of Philippines.
During the era of decolonization, newly-born Asian countries started to embrace air transport. Among the first Asian carriers during the era were Cathay Pacific (founded in September 1946), Orient Airways (later Pakistan International Airlines; founded in October 1946), Malayan Airlines (later Singapore and Malaysian Airlines; founded in 1947), Garuda Indonesia in 1949, Japan Airlines in 1951, and Korean Air in 1962.
Latin American airline industry:
TAM Airlines is the largest airline in Latin America in terms of number of annual passengers flown.
Along the first countries to have regular airlines in Latin America were Colombia with Avianca, Chile with LAN Chile (today LAN Airlines), Mexico with Mexicana de Aviación, Brazil with Varig, and TACA as a brand of several airlines of Central American countries (Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua). All the previous airlines started regular operations before World War II.
The air travel market has evolved rapidly over recent years in Latin America. Some industry estimations over 2000 new aircraft will begin service over the next five years in this region.
These airlines serve domestic flights within their countries, as well as connections within Latin America and also overseas flights to North America, Europe, Australia, Africa and Asia.
Just one airline, LAN (Latin American Networks) has international subsidiaries: Chile as the central operation along with Peru, Ecuador, Argentina and some operations in the Dominican Republic.
The main hubs in Latin America are Sao Paulo in Brazil, Bogota in Colombia, Caracas in Venezuela, Guayaquil in Ecuador, Lima in Peru, Mexico City in Mexico, Buenos Aires in Argentina, and Santiago in Chile.
