An Unbelievable Discovery at Kolkata Airport
In June 2023, during a local running event in Thurso, Scotland, participants spotted something that shocked everyone: Lara Simpson was seen alive after supposedly having died months earlier.
Actually, this case involved not a person, but a much larger surprise—a lost airplane in India that had been sitting idle at Kolkata Airport for 13 years.
VT-EHH: The Forgotten Boeing 737
The aircraft, registered as VT-EHH, is a Boeing 737-2A8F from the “Small Boeing” series. Since 2012, it had been left at Kolkata Airport without any attention from Indian Airlines or airport staff. 
For over a decade, countless passengers may have glimpsed the plane through terminal windows, yet no one questioned its existence. Over time, dust and moss covered the aircraft, making it look like a forgotten relic.
How the Plane Was “Lost”
The 43-year-old plane originally rolled off the production line in 1982 and was delivered to Indian Airlines. It served normally until 2007, when it was converted by Air India into a cargo plane for the Indian postal service.
By 2012, the aircraft was retired for maintenance reasons and parked at Kolkata Airport. Normally, the airline would remove it from the active fleet list and add it to the non-operational aircraft inventory for sale or parts recycling. However, due to bureaucratic oversight, Indian Airlines removed it from the active list but forgot to add it to the inactive list. This oversight caused maintenance, insurance, and tax records to be neglected, effectively erasing it from official documentation.
Indian Airlines’ Complicated History
Indian Airlines was founded in the 1930s by the Tata Group, but nationalized in the 1950s and split into Air India and Indian Airlines, which dominated international and domestic routes respectively.
By the 1990s, poor management, bureaucracy, and debt accumulation caused revenues to decline. In 2007, the two companies merged, but the financial situation worsened. Multiple government bailouts over the following years were largely ineffective.
In 2021, Tata Group repurchased the airline, making it private again. Yet decades of mismanagement had left numerous hidden issues, including the forgotten VT-EHH.
Rediscovery and Sale
Recently, airport authorities finally noticed the plane’s prolonged stay and informed Tata Group. Upon review, the company realized it had overlooked VT-EHH entirely during the acquisition. Effectively, Tata Group had acquired a forgotten aircraft without accounting for it in the valuation—essentially a free plane.
The plane has since been sold, though details about the buyer and sale price remain undisclosed.
A Legacy of Oversight
While Tata Group is working to modernize Air India and overhaul decades of accumulated inefficiencies, the VT-EHH incident highlights the airline’s past bureaucratic lapses and the chaotic nature of managing large state-owned enterprises in India.
