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 10800sqft 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.HistoryJohn Burgee of the New York City architectural firm Johnson/Burgee designed the building. 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. It initially had 30 companies as tenants, now it has only 2. 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!”.