Jamair

History

Jamair was formed in 1946 by James B Muff, a former Chief Engineer at China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) and Eddie Quinn, a radio operator and pilot with CNAC. They were financially backed by the Maharajah Jam Sahib of Nawanagar and so was based out of Jamnagar where the Maharaja developed an air base for the aircraft. In 1949 - 50 they bought the Maharajah's interests in the business and moved to Dum Dum Airport in Calcutta, West Bengal with a fleet of 5 C47/DC 3's, loads of spares and a small engineering team. Mr.C.L.Chandak and his brother Mr.P.C.Chandak the experienced business family were taken in to Board as Directors and Jamair began operating air supply missions to nearby states in the North East, but as commercial trade improved rapidly post WW11, the Airline began receiving Charter orders from export houses and so began International cargo services as far away as South America & Europe. After nationalisation of internal routes in August 1953, Jamair reverted to being a private charter company. Business picked up soon and charters to major Indian cities like Bombay, Bangalore and Delhi were added to their schedule. In early sixties, this airline also used to operate from Delhi Safdarjung Airport to Jodhpur, Bikaner and Sriganganagar in Rajasthan. In 1951, Herbert Dequadros aka Bob Dequadros from Burma Air joined the team as head Engineer and General Manager and with his expertise the airline grew in business and expanded in 1974 with additional 3 DC 4's purchased from Indian Airlines. These large bodied aircraft were commissioned to fly on commercial routes carrying passengers from Calcutta to Bombay via Panagarh in West Bengal. Out of the 3 aircraft, one was de-commissioned for scrap and spares were used to keep the balance 2 flying. However, these planes proved too costly for the Airline and in 1975, they were re -sold to private operator Air Works India in Bombay.The DC 3's remained in the fleet with 2 out of 5 meeting with accidents, some severely with loss to lives. In 1976, the first batch of Boeing 737's came into operations by Indian Airlines and the DGCA authorized the aircraft's to service similar Jamair routes, thus leading to losses for the old airline. Around 1966, the company invited a business partner so as to financially sustain the Airline, but this proved troublesome for the original owners over the years and the company became embroiled in legal battles right to the last day of operations. In 1971, Bob Dequadros became the 3rd partner with 40% stake in the Airline. Founder partner James B. Muff remained in New Delhi for the latter part of his life overseeing operations from the Northern part of India. He eventually became ill and died in Calcutta in 1977. Rising fuel costs, labor problems, local competition, a shrinking fleet and legal battles between partners eventually broke the company apart and in late 1977 operations ceased. The demise of James B. Muff left partner Bob Dequadros to conclude the numerous legal battles till his death in 1981. The remaining DC3's were scrapped in 1978 and money from the scrap dealers went to pay off staff and legal fees.

Incidents and accidents

Fleet

The fleet consisted of 5 Douglas DC-3 & 3 DC-4 aircraft in 1977.