Air India received a surprise parking bill of nearly 1 million rupees (about $120,000) after rediscovering a long-lost Boeing 737-200 that had been quietly sitting in a remote corner of India’s Kolkata Airport for more than a decade — a jet that somehow slipped entirely out of the memory of anyone at the airline.
The aircraft, registered VT-EHH, was taken out of service and parked on a remote pad at Kolkata Airport in 2012. Over the years, staff turnover and record-keeping gaps meant the jet gradually slipped out of the airline’s institutional record-keeping. By the time airport officials contacted Air India and asked that it be removed, the airline initially insisted the aircraft was not theirs.
According to reporting by The Times of India, Air India’s internal audit ultimately confirmed that VT-EHH did belong to the airline, despite being absent from fixed-asset registers and other internal documentation. The confusion appears to have stemmed from administrative lapses dating back to mergers involving Indian Airlines and Air India, as well as the aircraft’s former use as a freighter for India Post.
Kolkata Airport continued to levy standard parking fees throughout the 13-year period the aircraft remained idle. After confirming ownership, Air India arranged for the jet’s removal and paid the parking fee. The aircraft was lifted onto a transport vehicle and moved by road to Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, India, where it will serve as a non-flying training platform for aviation maintenance technicians.
The 43-year-old jet, delivered in 1982, had an unusually long and varied career. It flew for Indian Airlines, later operated for Alliance Air on lease starting in 1998, returned for cargo operations in 2007, and was last used by India Post before being decommissioned in 2012. As noted by The Times of India, it was also the only retired Air India aircraft among a recent group of 10 that still had its Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines attached at the time of disposal.
Airport officials told Indian media outlets the removal of VT-EHH marks the 14th abandoned aircraft cleared from Kolkata Airport in the past five years.
