Who named Air India? Tata Group reveals how airline got its name 75 years ago

Tata Group on Sunday shared a sneak peek of Air India’s history. A little over 10 days after formally taking over airline company, company shared nuggets of information about airline’s inception including secret behind Air India name. In bulletin, company revealed that airline was named 'Air India' by company’s employees through a poll.

According to Tata Group, an opinion poll was held among Tata employees to choose name of airline. poll held over 75 years ago, saw country's first airline company’s employees select 'Air India', among four options given. name remained intact even after Tatas lost control of airline to government.

Who named Air India?

Revealing story behind iconic airline’s name, Tata Group took to ir official Twitter to handle and wrote, “Back in 1946, when Tata Air Lines expanded from a division of Tata Sons into a company, we also h to name it. choice for India’s first airline company came down to Indian Airlines, Pan-Indian Airlines, Trans-Indian Airlines & Air-India.” company also used hashtags #AirIndiaOnBoard #WingsOfChange in tweets.

In a series of tweets, Tata Group also shared pictures of an old Air India aircraft as well as an excerpt from Tata Monthly Bulletin of 1946. According to bulletin shared, Tatas were faced with problem of finding a name for new Air Line Company which y were forming to take over and extend activities of Tata Airlines which h hirto functioned as a department of Tata Sons Limited.

“A choice h to be me between following four alternatives: Indian Air Lines, Air India, Air-India Pan-Indian Air Lines and Trans-Indian Air Lines,” bulletin re. bulletin furr stated that to innately democratic mind of He of Tata organisation, it seemed a good idea to hold an opinion survey. “Let selection be me by popular opinion in Bombay House through a sort of Gallup Poll,” bulletin noted.

Voting papers were n distributed among employees to ascertain views of representative sections of opinion among Tata employees. employees were requested to indicate ir first and second preferences by company. " 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 less favoured names h been eliminated, final count showed 72 votes for Air-India and 58 for Indian Air Lines,” bulletin re.

"Thus, name of new company comes to be 'AIR-INDIA'," it said. two tweets put up by Tata Group explaining history of iconic flyer’s name were retweeted by Air India. company while sharing info nugget, also used ‘#ThisIsTata’.

Tata Group's Air India takeover

On October 8, 2021, after a competitive bidding process, government h sold Air India to a subsidiary of Tata Group, Talace Private Limited, for Rs 18,000 crore. It was learned that about Rs 2,700 crores will be paid to government and rest will be Air India's debt that new entity will take.

Earlier, while speaking on winning bid for Air India, Ratan Tata h said that J R D Tata, founder of airline would have been overjoyed if he were alive today. “On an emotional note, Air India, under leership of Mr JRD Tata h, at one time, gained reputation of being one of most prestigious airlines in world,” he said.

Now Tata Group dominates Indian aviation sector as it owns three Airlines. three airlines include Air India, AirAsia India, and Vistara. Air India Express and 50% of Air India SATS is also part of deal for Air India's purchase by Tata Group.