JRD Tata on Public-Infrastructure Bets

In 1932 he flew the first commercial mail service from Karachi to Bombay, founding Tata Airlines — later nationalised as Air India — making him both the licensed pilot and the founder of Indian civil aviation in a single act.

His long advocacy for aviation culminated in Air India International in 1948, a long-haul carrier that established India's early presence in international air transport before the state took full control of the airline in the 1950s.