Air India sold an old Boeing 737-200 cargo aircraft last week — having forgotten its existence for more than a decade. CEO Campbell Wilson told employees that the airline did not even know that it owned the plane until the issue of removal came up. The Boeing jet was decommissioned in 2012 and remained at a remote parking bay within Kolkata airport for nearly two decades.
“Though disposal of an old aircraft is not unusual, this one is – for it’s an aircraft that we didn’t even know we owned until recently! Over time, it was lost from memory and only came to light when our friends at Kolkata Airport informed us of its presence in a (very) remote parking bay and asked us to remove it! After verifying that it was indeed ours, we’ve now done so – and in so doing removed another old cobweb from our closet,” Wilson said in a message to the staff.
How did Air India forget its own plane?
The cargo aircraft surfaced nearly three years after the privatisation of Air India as officials asked the Tata Group company to remove it from Kolkata airport premises. Wilson said this aircraft had been decommissioned in 2012 in order to operate for India Post. But it was omitted from many documents during the lengthy privatisation process — ultimately leaving Air India completely unaware of its existence.
According to reports, it had then remained parked at a “very remote” bay of Kolkata Airport for approximately 13 years. Air India was recently asked to remove the plane — leading to its ‘discovery’ and eventual sale. The airline completed the transfer of aircraft VT-EHH last week.
Over 40 year legacy
Information available on the aircraft tracking website planespotters.net showed that VT-EHH is more than 43.2 years old and was delivered to Indian Airlines in September 1982. The plane was leased by Alliance Air in February 1998 and returned to Indian Airlines as a freighter in July 2007. It came to Air India later that year as the two airlines merged.
(With inputs from agencies)
