Do you know how India's first airline 'Air India' got named? Air India was named via an opinion poll among Tata Sons employees over 75 years ago, in 1946. The Tata group also shared its monthly bulletin letter issued back in 1946, which stated that "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".
While sharing this information via social media, 10 days after the state-owned airline was handed over to the group, the Tata Group also shared two pictures, including an excerpt from the Tata Monthly Bulletin of 1946. Air India retweeted the tweets. 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 excerpt from the bulletin. "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.
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.
Voting papers were distributed to ascertain the views of representative sections of opinion among 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.