Private company

Himalayan Aviation

Indian airline

Himalayan Aviation (Hindi: हिमालयन एविएशन) was an airline based in India that operated in the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent until its nationalisation and merger into Indian Airlines in 1953.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1948Founded1
  • HeadquartersKolkata1

Himalayan Aviation (Hindi: हिमालयन एविएशन) was an airline based in India that operated in the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent until its nationalisation and merger into Indian Airlines in 1953.2

The story

On 20 February 1950, Himalayan Aviation ran the first ever international flight from Nepal, from Gauchar, Nepal, to Calcutta, India.

Himalayan Aviation began with chartered flights. Over time, it expanded to night-mail services and scheduled passenger flights. In order to maximize revenue, it began taking on passengers on its night-mail flights as well.

On 7 December 1951, Pakistan detained a Himalayan Aviation flight from Ahmedabad, India, to Kabul, Afghanistan, at the stopover point in Karachi. Pakistan had previously denied use of the direct Delhi-Kabul air-corridor that overflew the North West Frontier Province. India and Pakistan had worked out an alternative Ahmadabad-Karachi-Zahedan (Iran)-Kabul route.

From Wikipedia’s article on Himalayan Aviation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

The fleet mostly consisted of Douglas DC-3 aircraft.

From Wikipedia’s article on Himalayan Aviation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. 1953Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1948Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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