Tata Sons and Air India chairman N. Chandrasekaran On Wednesday (June 18, 2025) apologized for the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad last week who demanded more than 270 lives.
In an interview with a news channel, Mr. Chandrasekaran said: “It is an extremely difficult situation in which I have no words to express to comfort one of the families of those who died.”
“I am deeply regretted that this accident took place in a airline run by Tata. And I am very sorry. We can only be with the families, mourn with them and we will do everything we can to support them on this hour and then,” Mr. Chandrasekaran was quoted in a release.
More than 270 people were killed on 12 June when a London-bound Air India-aircraft-a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner-with 242 passengers and crew members crashed at a medical college complex in Ahmedabad and crash less than a minute after taking off.
When it was specifically asked about the reason for the crash and whether Air India is aware of some provisional findings, Mr. Chandrasekaran said: “One should wait until the probe is closed.”
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has started investigating the crash and the government has also appointed a high -level committee.
Mr. Chandrasekaran said it could be a month until some of the provisional findings are out. However, he claimed that AI171, the flight that crashed, had a clean history and there were no red flags that had been raised.
“There are speculation about human errors, speculation about airlines, speculation about engines, maintenance, all kinds,” said Mr. Chandrasekaran.
“There are many speculations and many theories. But the fact that I know so far is that this specific aircraft, this specific tail, AI-171, has a clean history. Regarding the engines, the right motor was a new engine in March 2025. The left engine was last maintained in 2023 and is clean for its next maintenance control.
“Both pilots were exceptional. Captain Sabharwal had more than 11,500 hours of flying experience, the first officer Clive (Kundar) had more than 3400 hours of flying experience. What I hear from colleagues were that they were excellent pilots and great professionals. So we can’t do that,” “
When demanding the notifications of the show cause that in the recent past of the DGCA had been issued to Air India or Fines that are levied on the airline for delays and operational matters, Mr. Chandrasekaran said they were not related to the AI171 plane.
“These differences from safety problems. If there is a safety problem, there is no way in which the DGCA (Directorate -General of Civil Aviation) will enable us to fly. And with regard to this specific plane is what I have seen what I told you.”
Mr. Chandrasekaran also said that none of the 33 Boeing 787 Dreamliners who are part of the Air India fleet are maintained by Turkish Technic, in the midst of questions called about a Turkish link to the plane that crashed.
“None of them (the 33 Dreamliners) is maintained by Turkish Technic. Most of them are maintained by Aiesl (AI Engineering Services Limited) or SIA -Singer -Company (whose parent organization Singapore Airlines is),” he said.
The former Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel, has questioned the ‘silence’ of Singapore Airlines, of which he said that, apart from being shareholder in Air India, it was also responsible for maintaining an Air India plane.
Mr. Chandrasekaran responded in the interview on Mr Patel’s claims and stated: “Singapore Airlines has been a great partner. And since we took over, they have helped us in many dimensions. Even some safety procedures, the best processes, we have taken from Singapore Airlines.
“We got it from Vistara, and many of the processes where we needed the best benchmarks, they helped us. They have even reached ourselves at the moment; their CEO has constant contact with me. Whether it is customer experience or another process, they are always available. They offer all the help they can.”
Mr. Chandrasekaran was also asked about whistleblowers who had spoken against Boeing, in particular in the context of the production processes related to the production of the 787 Dreamliner.
The chairman of the Air India replied by saying: “These are things treated by research agencies in the US, but in general 787s have been flying for a long time, we already had 27 787s by the time we bought Air India. And we haven’t had any red flags in our checks,” “said the release.
Since the tragedy of 12 June, various Air India flights have been canceled or have confronted delays, which expresses serious concern among passengers.
Mr. Chandrasekaran acknowledged that Air India should be better at communicating with passengers about these matters.
“There are more than 1100 flights that we fly every day. And in the last six days there are generally, everywhere from 5 to 16 or 18 flights, depending on the day that have been canceled,” he added.
“We have to do better in communication. We have set a strategic communication team over the past three days,” said Mr. Chandrasekaran.
After the tragedy, Mr. Chandrasekar met high officials of Boeing. He said, “So at the highest levels I connected to both Boeing and GE. Parallel to the DGCA checks that we have undergone, I asked them to check and tell if there have been problems with one of the planes or engines,” said the release.
Published – 19 June 2025 02:00 is ON
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