A plane fell from the sky? This airline just discovered it had a 737 that had been forgotten for 13 years!
Cheap Airport windsock.
On November 23, 2025, Civil Aviation Resource Network reported that Air India (AI) recently identified a missing Boeing 737 at Kolkata Airport. The aircraft had been abandoned for 13 years and overlooked during the tenures of successive management teams at Air India. Previously, the 43-year-old Boeing 737-200 had gone unnoticed until Kolkata Airport requested its removal. This discovery triggered an internal audit, revealing how the aircraft disappeared from official records before Air India's privatization. The aircraft, registration number VT-EHH, is a Boeing 737-2A8F. It was delivered to Indian Airlines (IC) in 1982 and subsequently operated by Alliance Air until it was converted into a freighter by Air India in 2007. It flew in the livery of Indian Post but was grounded at Kolkata Airport in 2012. The aircraft was neither sold, scrapped, nor dismantled; instead, it sat idle in a remote corner of the airport and disappeared from Air India's fixed asset records. Kolkata airport officials eventually contacted Air India, requesting the removal of the abandoned plane. This triggered a detailed internal audit, confirming that the aircraft had been omitted from multiple documents for years. This oversight meant that its existence was not reflected in depreciation plans, insurance records, maintenance forecasts, or financing-related registers. Air India CEO Campbell Wilson told employees that the aircraft had been repeatedly excluded from internal records in the years prior to the company's privatization. Consequently, the aircraft was not included in the valuation when the Tata Group acquired Air India. Before privatization, Air India did not maintain structured fixed asset registers like well-run airlines to track depreciation, parking costs, insurance liabilities, and maintenance cycles. Insurance companies, maintenance planners, and finance teams rely on such registers to understand operational risks and cost exposures, but this aircraft had completely disappeared from their sight. Historical records show that this aircraft, registration number VT-EHH, was once stored at Kolkata Airport along with another older aircraft, VT-EGG. VT-EGG was later moved to Rajasthan and converted into an airplane restaurant, while VT-EHH remained at Kolkata Airport.