I’ve referred to this before, but I can’t help but refer to it again on hearing that India Post now has three dedicated freight aircraft based in Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore to ensure 24-hour Speed Post and Parcel Service to the major metros. All three will converge on Nagpur, at one time in the night, to exchange mail and freight.
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This reminds me of those once much-enjoyed Dakota services that reached Nagpur at midnight from Delhi, Bombay, Madras and Calcutta and exchanged not only mail and postal parcels but also intrepid passengers like me who crowded Nagpur’s small airport and had a whale of a time till ‘Boarding’ — a leisurely call — was announced and then you flew in to see dawn slowly lighting the skies as you neared your respective destinations. It was sometime in the 1970s, if memory serves me right, that this service was withdrawn. Now it’s back — but with a difference.
The aircraft will be bigger and faster. And that will enable the Kolkata aircraft to serve both the Northeast and Delhi, the Bangalore aircraft to serve Chennai as well, and the Mumbai aircraft to offer a dedicated service. History always repeats itself — even if there is a variation or two in flight plans.