Aircraft missing from records since 2012 resurfaces at Kolkata airport, exposing paperwork failures and leaving the airline facing a multimillion-rupee parking bill.
Air India Boeing 737 that effectively vanished from the airline’s records more than a decade ago has been found parked at an Indian airport, triggering questions about oversight failures and resulting in a costly fine for the state-owned carrier.
The aircraft, missing since 2012, was discovered earlier this month at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, where it had been sitting idle for nearly 13 years. Airport authorities contacted Air India and demanded the jet be removed, along with payment of long-overdue parking fees.
According to Indian media reports, Air India staff were initially surprised by the request and at first disputed ownership of the plane. Airport officials later confirmed the aircraft had remained on a remote section of the tarmac, accumulating charges year after year without being flagged by either side.
The parking bill now totals about 10 million rupees, or roughly $120,000, reflecting more than a decade of unpaid fees.
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The confusion has been linked to what officials described as “administrative lapses.” The aircraft was originally registered to Indian Airlines, a state-owned carrier that merged with Air India in 2007. It was later leased to India Post and converted into a cargo plane, further complicating its paper trail.
Reports indicate Air India’s current chief executive, Campbell Wilson, had approved the aircraft’s decommissioning. However, that decision was never properly documented, leaving internal teams searching for the missing jet for months before it unexpectedly resurfaced.
The aircraft was eventually written off in company records after repeated attempts to locate it failed, despite it never having left the airport grounds.
The incident comes at a sensitive time for Air India, which has been under heightened scrutiny following a deadly crash earlier this year. In June 2025, an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 people on the ground. The airline later suspended three Dreamliners for extensive safety checks following several serious in-flight incidents.
Among the passengers on the ill-fated flight were 53 British citizens. One survivor, UK resident Viswashkumar Ramesh, has spoken publicly about the physical and emotional toll of the crash and has received an interim compensation payment while his claim is assessed.
Air India has not publicly commented on the rediscovered Boeing 737 or the fine imposed by Kolkata airport authorities.
