Air India got its name in an interesting way in 1946; view Tata Group's viral tweet revealing the story

The name Air India often rings a bell in our ear for being one of the country’s earliest and most trusted airlines. Recently, Tata Group shared a post on their official Twitter handle and revealed how India’s first airline company actually got its name.

The two-tweet thread shares an insight as to how employees had helped at that time to finalize a name for the national carrier of India.

The first tweet shared by Tata Group mentions that it was in the year 1946 when Tata Air Lines decided to expand into a separate company from a division of Tata Sons. Since this would be India’s first airline company, it had to be given a name which was selected after a careful decision. Four names were shortlisted for the company - Indian Airlines, Pan-Indian Airlines, Trans-Indian Airlines and Air-India.

Take a look at the first tweet here -

(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

In the next tweet, Tata Group wrote, “But who made the final decision?”, asking people if they could guess who made the final choice regarding the company’s name. The tweet was shared along with an image of Tata Monthly Bulletin of 1946. The caption further asked its users to read the excerpt shared from the bulletin of 1946 and find out as to who made the final call to name the country’s first airline company. Take a look at the tweet here -

(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

The excerpt mentioned that the Tata Group faced a problem of finding a name for the new airline company they were establishing. The head of the Tata organisation thought that the selection should be done through a democratic method and voting papers were distributed among Tata employees to ascertain their views. Voters were requested to indicate their first and second preference of names.

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The first vote count revealed highest number of votes for Air-India and the second highest for the name Indian Air Lines. After eliminating the less favored names, the final count showed a total of 72 votes drawn in favour of the name Air-India, while 58 votes were for Indian Air Lines. Going by public opinion, India’s National carrier was given the name ‘Air-India’.

The tweet has grabbed a lot of attention from internet users who were amused to find out this information. Some users thanked the company for sharing this information. One user commented, “Great information. Only Tata’s can do things in a different way”.

Tata Group had founded the airline in 1932. The company was taken over by the government in the year 1953. In January this year, Air India was officially handed over to the Tata Group, who had brought the airline in October last year after paying nearly $2.4 billion, as reported by BBC.

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