When we touch down in India this November, it will mark a milestone in our – and indeed, aviation’s – history: an incredible 100 years of flying to the country. As our enduring relationship with the subcontinent reaches new heights, The Club traces the fascinating timetable of this iconic route…

Here at British Airways, we are proud to celebrate 100 years of intertwining Indian culture with the British way of life. This close connection has provided us with pyjamas, paisley prints, yoga, our national favourite dish (we’ll let you guess), and even the tea break. We can’t imagine life in Britain today without our strong blend of Indian cultural influences, which is why we’re going all out on the celebrations until the end of November. For now though, sit back as writer Sachin Rao takes us to 10 November 1924, to reflect on 100 years of connecting families, countries and cultures.

10 November 1924
In an age of three-movies-and-there-you-are flights, can you imagine 27 stops on your journey? The very first flight from London to Delhi and Calcutta (now Kolkata) was part of a survey flight to Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar), piloted by Alan Cobham. The journey, by DeHavilland DH50 biplane, was peppered with halts across Europe, the Middle East and South Asia – a four-month round trip. Happily, in the end, an aeroplane service from England to India and Burma was deemed technically feasible.

30 December 1929
The Imperial Airways service from London’s Croydon airport to Karachi, Pakistan, is extended to Delhi via Jodhpur. By July 1933, further extensions bring it to Kolkata – an important waypoint to Singapore and onward to Australia.

April 1938
Imperial Airways’ flying boats bring the journey time to Kolkata down to four days. But it’s still an adventure, as this November 1938 customer account attests: “Just as we are about to touch down [on the River Hooghly]… a huge porpoise chose that moment to jump out of the water a few feet ahead of us… Somehow we miss it, luckily for both of us.”

1947
British Overseas Air Corporation (BOAC) begins operation to and from India’s commercial hub of Bombay (now Mumbai).

June 1959
With BOAC’s new DeHavilland Comet 4 jets, Mumbai is just 15.5 hours and three stops from London. Just a short trip, then?

1 November 1979
British Airways operates non-stop flights from Heathrow to New Delhi twice a week, on the much-missed Boeing 747s. The flight time – just under 8.5 hours – would no doubt seem like science-fiction to Alan Cobham.

17 November 1983
A British Airways Lockheed TriStar flies HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh to India. The royal couple, returning to the country after 22 years, are greeted at New Delhi's Palam Airport by then Indian president Zail Singh and PM Indira Gandhi. During this visit, the Queen also presents Mother Teresa with an honorary Order of Merit.

3 November 1988
Vanakkam Chennai! A new route is launched to India’s fourth-largest city. Madras, as it was then known, is billed as “the gateway to the four states of southern India”. The twice-weekly route gives Chennai its first direct air link with Europe and helps connect the large South Indian diaspora in the US and Canada.

24 September 1995
British Airways’ team in Chennai celebrates its 1,000th flight to the city. By the following summer, non-stop flights on a 747-400 are in operation.

30 October 2005
Hello Bangalore (now Bengaluru)! British Airways begins a new route to the ‘Silicon Valley of India’, with five weekly Boeing 777 services launched from Heathrow. Following a treaty between the two countries, there are now 35 BA flights to India each week, including twice daily to Mumbai, and six a week to Chennai.

2006
BA opens a call centre in India.

7 December 2008
And then there were five... the southern city of Hyderabad, with its fast-growing tech economy, is British Airways’ latest Indian destination. The five flights a week from Heathrow are the only direct service between HYD and the UK. The Boeing 777 used on the route triples cargo capacity to the region.

26 October 2015
With double daily flights by now operating between Heathrow and New Delhi, the Indian capital becomes the first destination globally to receive British Airways’ new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

2020-2021
As the Covid-19 pandemic brings world aviation to a halt, the airline rises to the unprecedented challenge with repatriation and medical cargo flights. Passenger schedules operate whenever travel restrictions are eased.

2022
Turning the page on the pandemic, by summer, there’s once again a full complement of flights to New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

30 June 2023
Sophisticated new premises are opened in Gurugram, near Delhi: the CallBA call centre now has some 1,400 colleagues offering round-the-clock customer service to travellers worldwide.

21 September 2023
Sharing is caring. British Airways enters a codeshare partnership with India’s leading airline IndiGo, enabling seamless travel on one ticket all the way to eight new destinations: Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Goa, Kochi, Kolkata, Rajkot, Thiruvananthapuram and Vadodara.

10 November 2024
A month of celebration for a century of connection. Roadshows and a gala event on the ground complement a special menu and 100 Indian films in the air.

Now flying 56 times a week to India – and with an additional daily service to New Delhi set for April 2025 – British Airways links the two countries’ families, businesses and cultures more closely than ever. A storied legacy continues.

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This article has been tagged BA, Culture