Know How Air India, Country’s First Airline, Got Its Name?

New Delhi: Do you know how Air India, the country’s first airline, got its name?

It was decided by an opinion poll among Tata employees more than 75 years ago.

Tata Group, which has taken over Air India, on Sunday shared this nugget of history about the airline.

In 1946, when Tata Airlines, which until then used to function as a department of Tata Sons, was formed into a company, a name had to be chosen.

The employees were asked to choose from four names. “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.

Tata Group also tweeted two pictures, including an excerpt from the Tata Monthly Bulletin of 1946.

According to the bulletin, “to the innately democratic mind of the Head of the Tata organisation, it seemed a good idea to let the selection be made by popular opinion in Bombay House through a sort of Gallup Poll or Sample Opinion Survey”.

“The first count revealed 64 votes for Air India, 51 for Indian Airlines, 28 for Trans-Indian Airlines and 19 for Pan-Indian Airlines… the final count showed 72 votes for Air India and 58 for Indian Airlines,” it said.

“Thus, the name of the new company comes to be ‘AIR-INDIA’,” the bulletin said.