Calcutta airport has just said goodbye to an unexpected guest: a Boeing B737-200 abandoned since 2012. The aircraft, 43 years old and owned by Air India, had been converted into a freighter in 2007 then officially written off in 2013. However, it had remained there, first in a hangar, then relegated to a piece of land away from the tarmac, sad, homeless and without prospects. of future.
The ghost Boeing
According to local officials taken up by Telegraph Indiathe airline didn’t even realize » that this plane still belonged to him. It was only recently, alerted by the airport, that the carrier finally decided to resolve the situation. The administrative error dates back several years, before the privatization of Air India, when the plane was decommissioned to operate under the India Post banner. A step that would have escaped the official documentation.
In an internal message from last week, Campbell Wilson, the boss of Air India, recounts the discovery with a touch of irony: “ This is a device we didn’t even know we owned! “. He specifies that the Boeing had been “ lost sight of over time ” and that it only resurfaced when the Calcutta airport asked the company to remove it from this ” very remote corner».
To settle the case, Air India had to pay the equivalent of 110,000 euros, which corresponds to the cumulative parking costs… for thirteen years. A hell of a ticket! The company then sold the plane through an intermediary. The aircraft was transported by road to Bengaluru, where it will now be used for ground training of crews. A retirement not so dishonorable after all.
This forgotten Boeing is part of a broader movement to clean up the fleet. According to Campbell Wilson, Air India has already phased out 39 obsolete aircraft, including B747s, A319s, A321s and B737s. “ It’s always sad to see a plane leave, and B747s even more so, but they must make way for newer technologies », Underlines the manager. The last B747 still present in Mumbai must also be dismantled by the end of the year, at the very time when Air India will welcome its first “linefit” B787-9, presented by the boss as the symbol of a modernized fleet (let’s hope that it will not remain stranded on the tarmac).
Calcutta airport is not quite done with forgotten aircraft. Two Alliance Air ATR-72s still rest in a remote area of the site, where they have been for around five years. These two planes remain unsolved for the moment.
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