Air India Building

The Air India Building is a 23-storey commercial tower on Marine Drive in Nariman Point, Mumbai, India. The building served as the corporate headquarters for the Indian national airline, Air India, up to 2013. There are at least 10,800 square feet (1,000 m2) of space on each floor of the building. In February 2013, Air India officially vacated the building as part of its asset-monetisation plan, and shifted its corporate office to New Delhi. The Indian Airlines House was chosen as the airline's new headquarters. However, the airline still retains the 21st, 22nd and 23rd floors in the building.[3]

Air India Building
Air India building on Marine Drive
General information
LocationMumbai
AddressMarine Drive, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021
CountryIndia
Current tenantsAir India
Directorate General of Shipping
State Bank of India
Tata Consultancy Services[1]
Completed1974
OwnerAir India
Height105 metres (344 ft)[2]
Technical details
Floor count23
Floor area220,000 square feet (20,000 m2)
Design and construction
ArchitectJohn Burgee
Architecture firmJohnson/Burgee

History

John Burgee of the New York City architectural firm Johnson/Burgee designed the building.[4] The Air India Building was completed in 1974, and is owned by the airline. It occupies one of Mumbai's choicest real estate locations in Nariman Point. Located on Marine Drive, facing the Arabian Sea, the building is a landmark on Mumbai's skyline with the airline's trademark centaur icon on its top. The centrally air-conditioned building was the first in India to have an escalator, carrying customers from the street-level to the airline's main booking office.[5] It initially had 30 companies as tenants, now it has only 2.[1] The Air India building was one of several high rises including Express Towers and the Oberoi Sheraton that came up at Nariman Point, a 64-acre reclamation from the sea which was initiated as a project to ease the housing crisis in Mumbai but was later auctioned off in plots to various companies. Air India once hung a board on this building, its new headquarters, that said “Nariman had a point and we’re on it!”.[6][7]

The building was one of the targets of the 1993 Bombay bombings. A car bomb exploded in the afternoon on 12 March 1993 in the basement garage of the building.[8] 20 people were killed in the attack and the offices of the Bank of Oman located above the garage were destroyed.[9] In 2007, Farooq Pawale was convicted and sentenced to death for planting the bomb that led to 20 deaths and injured nearly 100 others.[10]

2010s

During June 2011, the ground floor was occupied by Tata Consultancy Services, and Air India occupied 7 floors and 15 floors lay empty.[5] Air India started planning to move the Headquarters of Air India to Delhi, where the rent is cheaper.[11] The Air India Building was then expected to be sold for Rs 20 billion or leased for ₹660 million every year.[11] By January 2013 Air India continued to occupy six floors of the building.[12] The office of the chairperson remained in the Air India Building.[13] Moreover, it has offices of Service Tax & Income Tax under Ministry of Finance.

Air India head office move

In February 2013, Air India board gave a formal approval to the proposal to shift its headquarters from Mumbai to Delhi, leasing out vacant space in the building. However, the chairman's office was still retained in the Air India building itself. Air India struck a deal with State Bank of India to lease out four floors in the building and expected to earn ₹10 billion (US$140 million) by March 2014 through the monetisation of its property. Air India chairman Rohit Nandan said that only three floors in the building will be retained by Air India.[14] Later, the Indian Directorate General of Shipping decided to lease another three floors in the building.[1]

References
  • Lang, Jon T. Concise History of Modern Architecture: in India. Orient Blackswan, 1 August 2002. ISBN 8178240173, 9788178240176.

Notes
  1. "SBI, DGS to rent space in Air India Building in Mumbai". The Economic Times. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  2. "Air India Building". Emporis.com. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  3. Anindya Upadhyay; ET Bureau (2013). "Air India vacates Nariman Point; moves headquarters to Delhi". The Economic Times. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
  4. Lang, p. 89. "The Nariman Point area of Mumbai has become the city's new Central Business District. It contains a prestigious core area and a more crowded area of standard office buildings with somewhat differing façades. The former contains the Air India Building designed by John Burgee (b. 1933) of Johnson/Burgee in New York"
  5. "Air India's Rs 80-cr-a-year ghost town". Mid Day. 4 June 2011. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  6. Prakash, Gyan (2010). Mumbai Fables. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 274. ISBN 978-1400835942.
  7. Salmi, Charlotta (29 November 2010). "Mumbai Revisited". The Oxonian Review. 14 (4). Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  8. "Bombay hit by devastating bombs". BBC. 12 March 1993. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  9. "200 Killed, 1,100 Hurt as 13 Bomb Blasts Rock Bombay : India: Explosions target stock exchange, airline headquarters and hotels. No one claims responsibility". Los Angeles Times. 13 March 1993. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  10. Katakam, Anupama (July–August 2007). "On death row". Frontline. 24 (15). Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  11. "Air India crisis: IPO may turn the tide of Maharaja". Business Today. 9 June 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  12. Upadhyay, Anindya. "Air India vacates Nariman Point; moves headquarters to Delhi." Economic Times. 15 February 2013. Retrieved on 20 February 2013.
  13. Phadnis, Aneesh. "Air India shifts headquarter to Delhi." Business Standard. 14 February 2013. Retrieved on 20 February 2013.
  14. "Air India shifts headquarter to Delhi". Business Standard. Retrieved 20 February 2013.

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