Commenced operations 1946 Headquarters Hyderabad Ceased operations 1953 | Hubs Begumpet Airport Founded 1945 Hub Begumpet Airport | |
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Deccan Airways Limited was a commercial airline based in Hyderabad. Founded in 1945, it was one of the nine airlines existing in India during independence. The airline, a joint venture of Nizam Government of erstwhile Hyderabad State and Tata Airlines was launched with a fleet of three aircraft. By the time it was merged with Indian Airlines in 1953, it had a fleet of thirteen Douglas DC-3 'Dakota' aircraft. The airline operated on Madras-Hyderabad-Nagpur- Bhopal-Gwalior-Delhi, Hyderabad-Bombay and Hyderabad-Bangalore sectors.
71 per cent of Deccan Airways was owned by the Nizam's Government and the rest was owned by Tata Sons and others. Its first flight began in July 1946. The DC-3 aircraft were brought from US Air Force at a throw away price after they were left unused at Assam after World War 2. Hyderabad had five airfields with concrete runways in Aurangabad, Warangal, Bidar, Hakimpet and Begumpet. In 1952 Government of India held 78% of shares of Deccan Airways. The shares were acquired from the Hyderabad Government & Nizam State Railways. 13% of the shares was still held by Tatas & 9% by the general public
In 1953 Deccan Airways Limited along with seven other airlines under the Air Corporations Act were merged to form a single domestic carrier called Indian Airlines Corporation (IAC). After this on 10 October 1953, Deccan Airways resigned its associate membership of IATA.