SXDFC From United States of America, joined Dec 2007, 1999 posts, RR: 20 Posted (1 year 2 weeks 16 hours ago) and read 7647 times:
Hello All:
Can anyone provide any pictures of the interiors of Air Indias planes during the 1970's, and 1980's.. I remember seeing a clip of an older documentary about the 747, showing what looked like a somewhat exotic interior of a new AI 742, which sparked my interest to make this thread. Thanks in advance!
[Edited 2012-05-03 18:15:07]
ALL views, opinions expressed are mine ONLY and are NOT representative of those shared by Southwest Airlines Co.
I know it is a lot more recent than what you are asking but it is the oldest one in the database showing an Air India Cabin, and it is on a Classic 747.
Ben Soriano
"Aimer jusqu'a l'impossible, c'est possible". Tina Arena.
gr8circle From Canada, joined Dec 2005, 2985 posts, RR: 5 Reply 5, posted (1 year 1 week 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 6568 times:
I don't have pics but I can throw some light on this, having flown extensively on AI in the 70's and 80s...
The B707 fleet had two distinct interiors: the 707s had off-white interiors, with images from Indian mythology on the walls.....there was a difference in the interiors of the 707-337s and 437s.....
On the 742 fleet, the early 1970s deliveries had a distinct interior, somewhat similar to the 707's; the planes delivered in the mid-70s had distinct pink walls and the planes delivered in the late 70's had cool blue walls.....all had images from Indian mythology and ancient Indian temples.....carpets were also matching with the walls..... bulkheads, partitions and the bar in first class had fine gold leaf designs.....all main doors usually had the maharaja painted on....
All in all, the planes were like art galleries....but starting with the 743s which came in 1988, AI switched to plain white interiors.....
CRJ900 From Norway, joined Jun 2004, 2079 posts, RR: 1 Reply 9, posted (1 year 1 week 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 5262 times:
Haha, the 1970s were such a colourful decade, lots of happy colours and prints - a pity I was just a wee kid during that decade and don't remember much. Love looking at old photos, though, I wore orange shirts at the age of four
Today, aircraft are so boring, Eurowhite on the outside and gray on the inside.
Amazing pics those were the days . I flew in the 90's on the B744 a few times and thought those were cool. The Executive Class upper deck with the orange seats were a favourite of mine.
Quoting G-CIVP (Reply 7): Seeing all that food I could murder a curry!
LOL... yeah these AI/PK pics always makes me hungry .
OLYMPIC AIR - ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΗ "Η ΕΛΛΑΔΑ ΨΗΛΑ" "GREECE FLYING HIGH"
babybus From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2003, 3512 posts, RR: 6 Reply 11, posted (1 year 1 week 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 5049 times:
What I love about those interiors is their cultural references. You have no doubt you are on an Indian airline flying to or from India.
Quoting jreuschl (Reply 8): No IFE, how could people survive!?
I remember actually using that airtime to talk to my friends or family or catching up on reading. IFE has made us all too insular. We share nothing now.
and with that..cabin crew, seats for landing please.
What does not exist one does not miss... I remember doing many long haul flights in 1980s on DC10 with only white screen IFE and some music channels. But I was never bored. The whole flight was an event, take off was something so cool, they showed some cartoons after take off, the kiddy bag was full of things to do. I know these things would be found as boring by children in present times, but then it was really cool One high light for me was duty free as I would get a candy box, it was like a tradition we had. Also, I think children were not so demanding as they are nowadays. When my parents told me to calm down if I went a bit restless, I'd listen to them. Often I slept the rest of the trip, too much excitement for a little guy! Times have changed. Just the other day I read about a kid who was poking a news paper and commented "this is not working"
WA707atMSP From United States of America, joined Oct 2006, 2037 posts, RR: 13 Reply 13, posted (1 year 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 4619 times:
The Spring, 1974 issue of Airliners International (the fourth, and last, issue of this fantastic magazine that died far too soon) has an article about a trip from JFK to JNB on the following equipment:
JFK-LHR: AI 747
LGW-Freetown-Monrovia: BCal VC10
Monrovia Roberts Field-Monrovia Spriggs Payne: Liberian National DC-3
Monrovia-Abidjan-Accra: Ghana Airways F.28
Accra-Lagos-Entebbe-Nairobi: Ethiopian 707
Nairobi-Johannesburg: BOAC 747
The article's authors describe the interior of their Air India 747 as follows:
"National Airlines became Feminist Enemy Number One because of what it did outside its planes: the girls' names spashed on the sides of the planes, and the not-very-subtle-at-all 'Fly Me' advertisements circulated in the media. Inside, although decors may vary, National aircraft aren't any sexier than an Eastern or Branniff or any other airliner. The feminists haven't bothered with Air-India, probably because it has only one flight a day into the United States, but we would advise them to stay off that flight if they want to maintain normal blood pressure.
Air India, you see, has placed the sex appeal inside the plane. The walls of its 747s are covered with schematics of flute-playing dancing girls and smiling fat cows. On the middle walls, covering the movie screens, are murals depicting the Krishna legend, the life of a famous god who specialized in tricking and seducing women. Upstairs in the first class lounge of the 747 one wall is covered with paintings from the Elora Caves...you guessed it, half nude women".
This magazine comes up for auction a couple of times a year on Ebay, and it is well worth purchasing for the account of this trip alone!
gr8circle From Canada, joined Dec 2005, 2985 posts, RR: 5 Reply 14, posted (1 year 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 4375 times:
Quoting WA707atMSP (Reply 13): Air India, you see, has placed the sex appeal inside the plane. The walls of its 747s are covered with schematics of flute-playing dancing girls and smiling fat cows. On the middle walls, covering the movie screens, are murals depicting the Krishna legend, the life of a famous god who specialized in tricking and seducing women. Upstairs in the first class lounge of the 747 one wall is covered with paintings from the Elora Caves...you guessed it, half nude women".
I guess the poorly informed author of that article wasn't aware that tourists from all over the world go to India to admire these cave paintings and scupltures that date back to a couple of thousand years ago and depict ancient Indian culture......many of the locations, such as the Ajanta and Ellora caves and specific ancient temples in India which were the inspiration for the AI interiors of the 60s and 70s, are internationally recognied heritage sites.....
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