Air TransportAir India admits a Boeing 737 was left off its books for 13 years
Air India has identified a missing Boeing 737-200, registered as VT-EHH, at Kolkata Airport after 13 years of being unaccounted for. The discovery occurred in 2025 following a request from airport authorities to remove the parked aircraft.
The incident prompted an internal audit, which found that VT-EHH had been omitted from official records prior to Air India’s privatization. The omission led to incomplete documentation regarding depreciation, insurance, and maintenance.
“VT-EHH was repeatedly left out of internal records,” said Campbell Wilson, CEO of Air India.
VT-EHH, a 43-year-old aircraft originally delivered to Indian Airlines in 1982, was converted to a freighter in 2007. The aircraft has been grounded at Kolkata since 2012.
Another aircraft, VT-EGG, was stored alongside VT-EHH at Kolkata before being moved and repurposed as a restaurant in Rajasthan. Following its rediscovery, VT-EHH was sold and transferred, though neither the buyer nor sale price has been disclosed.
This incident is yet another addition to the image crisis of India’s most traditional airline, which suffered a fatal accident with one of its Boeing 787s in June.
Acquired from the government by the Tata Group, the country’s largest, Air India is attempting to relaunch itself in the market by investing in new aircraft and a modern visual identity, but the carrier’s disorganization and inefficiency continue to remind people that the process will be long and arduous.
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