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 the airline company, the company shared nuggets of information about the airline’s inception including the secret behind Air India name. In the bulletin, the company revealed that the airline was named 'Air India' by the company’s employees through a poll.

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

Who named Air India?

Revealing the story behind the iconic airline’s name, Tata Group took to their 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 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.” The company also used the hashtags #AirIndiaOnBoard #WingsOfChange in the tweets.

In a series of tweets, Tata Group also shared pictures of an old Air India aircraft as well as an excerpt from the Tata Monthly Bulletin of 1946. According to the bulletin shared, Tatas were faced with the problem of finding a name for the new Air Line 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.

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

Voting papers were then distributed among employees to ascertain the views of representative sections of opinion among Tata employees. The employees were requested to indicate their first and second preferences by the company. "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,” the bulletin read.

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

Tata Group's Air India takeover

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

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

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