TAIP (Transportes Aereos da India Portuguesa)

TAIP was created in 1955 as a public company linked to the General Government of the Portuguese India, initially named STAIP – Serviços de Transportes Aéreos da Índia Portuguesa. TAIP – Transportes Aéreos da Índia Portuguesa (Air Transport of Portuguese India), operated from Portuguese India from 1955 to 1961. During this period, it functioned as the state airline of Portuguese India, which comprised Goa, Daman, and Diu. The main objective of the creation of TAIP was to counteract the blockade that the India had imposed upon Portugal’s territories next to India, as part of Nehru’s efforts to annex them. The creation of TAIP was accompanied by the development of airport facilities of Goa, Daman and Diu to allow the operation of large aircraft, allowing air links with these territories without any use of Indian infrastructure. Just before the Annexation of Goa, TAIP was used for the evacuation of civilians from Goa to Karachi. On the day of the invasion (18Dec1961) only one of TAIP’s DC-4’s was at Dabolim Airport and it escaped the bombing of that installation, along with a plane of TAP Portugal. That night, the track was repaired, allowing two planes to take off for Karachi from where they went to Lisbon. With that, TAIP’s operations came to an end