Air India’s “Lost” Boeing 737: A 13-Year Parking Oversight at Kolkata Airport
In a bizarre tale of bureaucratic forgetfulness, Air India has “rediscovered” a Boeing 737-200 that had been quietly gathering dust in a remote corner of Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport for over 13 years. The aircraft, registered VT-EHH, was not missing in the traditional sense—no crash, no mystery disappearance mid-flight—but had simply vanished from the airline’s official records due to administrative oversights spanning mergers, staff changes, and privatization. 0 “LARGE” 1 “LARGE” 2 “LARGE”
The story began in 2012 when the 43-year-old jet, a first-generation Boeing 737-200 originally delivered to Indian Airlines in 1982, was decommissioned after serving as a cargo plane, including stints with India Post. Parked on a secluded bay at Kolkata Airport, it was intended for retirement. However, over the years, it slipped out of Air India’s asset registers, insurance logs, and maintenance records. Even during the airline’s privatization by the Tata Group in 2022, the plane did not appear on transferred asset lists.
The rediscovery came not from an internal audit but from a simple request by Kolkata Airport authorities: remove the abandoned aircraft to free up space for new infrastructure, including planned hangars. Initially, Air India disputed ownership, insisting no such plane belonged to them. But verification confirmed it was indeed theirs.
Air India CEO Campbell Wilson addressed the oversight in an internal note to staff: “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!”
The forgotten jet wasn’t free parking, either. Over 13 years, it racked up nearly ₹1 crore (approximately $120,000 or £83,000) in fees, which Air India settled after confirming ownership. On November 14, 2025, the 100-foot-long, 30-tonne aircraft was loaded onto a tractor-trailer for a 1,900-kilometer road journey to Bengaluru. There, it has been sold to Bangalore International Airport Ltd for use as a training aid at their maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility—its Pratt & Whitney engines still intact, unlike many other retired planes.
This was the 14th defunct aircraft cleared from Kolkata Airport in the past five years, highlighting ongoing efforts to reclaim space from abandoned jets. Other retired Air India planes have found second lives as themed restaurants or historical displays.
While the incident has drawn amusement and criticism online, it underscores legacy issues from Air India’s state-run era. Under new ownership, the airline is modernizing records and processes to prevent such “ghost planes” in the future. 7 “LARGE” 9 “LARGE”
The case of VT-EHH serves as a quirky reminder: even a massive Boeing 737 can hide in plain sight when buried under layers of paperwork.
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