Air India totally forgot it owned a plane and now owes 13 years of parking fees – Jalopnik

Ever forget when your flight is? Most of us have probably been there. Ever forget that you even have a flight coming up? Some of us may have been there. Ever forget owning an entire cargo plane and leaving it to rust in a corner of an airport, racking up 13 years of parking fees? We’ve all definitely been there! And if you work for Air India, it’s not even a joke.

According to the Times of Indiathe airline only just realized that it has one more Boeing 737 in its fleet than its own data shows. This is a 43-year-old twin jet, which first joined Indian Airlines in 1982. The cargo plane bounced around a bit after that, being leased to Alliance Air for a few years, then returning to IA and then going to Air India when those two companies merged, and then being leased to India Post, before finally being decommissioned in 2012. You Do you know whose plane that plane belonged to?

Well, Air India certainly didn’t. CEO Campbell Wilson admitted this in an internal memo, claiming that was the perpetrator the company’s acquisition by Tata Group in 2022when the company was privatized from government ownership. Apparently a lot changes when you switch to the business world after 70 years in the public sector. For example, you lose your memory. Even then, that only happened three years ago; this poor plane has been sitting there for 13 years, unloved and unattended. What’s your excuse for the first ten years, Air India?

This is not the first time this year that Air India’s administration has come under scrutiny. Subsidiary Air India Express was caught falsifying security data in March. One of the pilots also falsified his medical records just before he died of a heart attack (he was in his 30s, no less). Of course, Air India has even bigger problems this year: one of its 787s crashed shortly after takeoff. Early indications are that the crash was caused by pilot error – or even possibly pilot error. intention. It certainly seems like the plane still has a lot of work to do to get its house in order. Maybe finding out how many plays it has is a start.