- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
MORE than 75 years ago, an opinion poll held among employees at Tata to choose from four names resulted in the country’s first airline company being named ‘Air India’.
Just days after officially taking control of India’s debt-ridden national carrier, the Tata Group on Sunday (6) shared nuggets of information about the airline’s history.
Tatas had lost control of Air India nearly seven decades ago before taking it back in January.
In 1946, when Tata Air Lines expanded from a division of Tata Sons into a company, a name had to be decided.
“The choice for India’s first airline company came down to Indian Airlines, Pan-Indian Airlines, Trans-Indian Airlines & Air India. #AirIndiaOnBoard#WingsOfChange,” Tata Group said on Sunday.
In a series of tweets, the conglomerate also shared two pictures, including an excerpt from the Tata Monthly Bulletin of 1946.
(1/2):Back in 1946, when Tata Air Lines expanded from a division of Tata Sons into a company, we also had to name it. The choice for India’s first airline company came down to Indian Airlines, Pan-Indian Airlines, Trans-Indian Airlines & Air-India. #AirIndiaOnBoard #WingsOfChange pic.twitter.com/BKpmwyAMim
— Tata Group (@TataCompanies) February 6, 2022
(2/2): But who made the final decision? Read this excerpt from the Tata Monthly Bulletin of 1946 to know. #AirIndiaOnBoard #WingsOfChange #ThisIsTata pic.twitter.com/E7jkJ1yxQx
— Tata Group (@TataCompanies) February 6, 2022
Air India retweeted the tweets.
According to the bulletin, Tatas were faced with the problem of finding a name for the new airline company which they were forming to take over and extend the activities of the Tata Airlines which had hitherto functioned as a department of Tata Sons Limited.
The choice was between Indian Air Lines, Air-India Pan-Indian Air Lines and Trans-Indian Air Lines.
The bulletin said that to the innately democratic mind of the head of the Tata organisation, it seemed a good idea to allow the popular opinion in Bombay House through a sort of Gallup Poll or Sample Opinion Survey to decide on the name.
Voting papers were distributed to ascertain the views of the Tata employees and they were requested to indicate their first and second preferences.
“The first count revealed 64 votes for Air-India, 51 for Indian Air Lines, 28 for Trans-Indian Air Lines and 19 for Pan-Indian Air Lines. When the less favoured names had been eliminated, the final count showed 72 votes for Air-India and 58 for Indian Air Lines.
“Thus, the name of the new company comes to be ‘AIR-INDIA’,” the bulletin said.
The first tweet mentioned ‘WHO NAMED AIR INDIA?’ in a box with the background of an old Air India aircraft.
It was followed by a tweet saying “But who made the final decision? Read this excerpt from the Tata Monthly Bulletin of 1946 to know. #AirIndiaOnBoard #WingsOfChange #ThisIsTata” along with excerpts from the bulletin.
On January 27, Tatas took over control of Air India, its subsidiary Air India Express as well as a 50 per cent stake in joint venture AISATS (Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited).
Last October, Tatas placed a winning bid of ₹18,000 crore (£1,781 million) to re-acquire the airline.
(With PTI inputs)
