Air India has recently uncovered a forgotten Boeing 737-200 that spent more than a decade abandoned in a remote area of Kolkata Airport, completely missing from the former state-owned carrier’s official records. The 43-year-old aircraft, registered VT-EHH, last flew in 2012, after which it quietly slipped out of administrative documentation and was left to deteriorate.
Kolkata Airport requested the removal of the old jet, prompting Air India to initiate an internal audit that revealed how the aircraft had simply vanished from asset registers over the years. It did not appear in depreciation schedules, insurance files, maintenance planning documents, or financial records. Administratively, VT-EHH practically did not exist.
The disappearance traces back to the period when Air India was still a state-run airline burdened by outdated and inefficient asset-management processes. Taxpayers ultimately absorbed the losses while procedural gaps enabled a fully functional aircraft to go missing on paper.
VT-EHH was delivered to Indian Airlines in 1982, later flown by Alliance Air, and converted into a freighter in 2007 for India Post. After being grounded in 2012, it was neither sold nor dismantled; instead, it remained parked in a remote corner of Kolkata Airport. Historical reports also mention that it was stored alongside another 737-200, VT-EGG, which was later relocated to Rajasthan and turned into a restaurant. Conflicting accounts over the years suggested VT-EHH had briefly appeared in Delhi before allegedly becoming part of a restaurant structure, but Air India now confirms that the aircraft never left Kolkata.
Air India CEO Campbell Wilson told employees that the aircraft had been left out of all major internal registers, meaning it was not included in the valuation process during the Tata Group acquisition. Before privatization, the airline lacked structured fixed-asset records of the kind used by well-managed carriers to track depreciation, parking charges, insurance liability, and maintenance cycles.
The rediscovery of this “lost” Boeing highlights the scale of organizational cleanup undertaken by Tata Group after acquiring the airline. From modernizing IT systems to revising vendor contracts and rectifying legacy documentation, the new management is working to align Air India with global aviation standards. The sale of VT-EHH has since been completed, though the buyer and price remain undisclosed.
