Transportes Aéreos da Índia Portuguesa

After the refusal of the Portuguese Government to hand over Goa, Daman and Diu to India, Indian Prime Minister Nehru adopted a policy of blocking the services and infrastructure vital to the economy of these regions in the hope of inducing a revolt by the Goans.

In effect, foreign trade, air routes, rail links, telephone lines and bank accounts were cut off, and the movement of people and goods between Goa, Daman and Diu and the territories controlled by the Indian union was banned.

The Portuguese Governor-General Paulo Bénard Guedes was concerned about the urgent need to find alternative means for moving people, goods and capital to ensure economic activities.

[1] In July 1951, the Director General of the Portuguese Overseas Administration Ministry proposed to the Director General of Civil Aviation to send a Technical Mission for Aerodromes to: a) study and detail a construction project to build an international airport in Goa; b) study improvements to be made immediately to allow the use of the existing airstrips at Dabolim, Mormugao, Daman and Diu to land light twin-engined aeroplanes; and c) study the viability of establishing air connections with the three segments of Estado da India Portuguesa.

As the current airfields in Goa, Daman and Diu were not capable of receiving the heavy DC-4 "Skymaster" transporters, the government considered the creation of air transport services as a civilian company integrated within the government services of the Estado da Índia Portuguesa to organise and develop proper airports.

[3] On 29 May 1955, the first air mechanics left for Goa, flying first by plane to Karachi, thence by ship to Mormugao landing on 16 June 1955, to prepare and set up a basic maintenance environment at Dabolim.

At the beginning of the Portuguese Colonial War in Angola in 1961, TAIP supported the transport of troops and material between Lisbon and Luanda.

TAIP began operations with a de Havilland Heron aeroplane, but with the rapid increase of frequency of flights and the number of passengers carried, quickly expanded its fleet to larger aircraft.