Mumbai: Tata Sons and Air India Chairman N Chandrasekaran on Wednesday “apologised” for the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad last week that claimed more than 270 lives.
In an exclusive interview with the Group Editor-in-Chief of Times Now and Times Now Navbharat, Navika Kumar, Chandrasekaran said, “It is an extremely difficult situation where I have no words to express to console any of the families of those who died.”
“I deeply regret that this accident happened in a Tata-run airline. And I feel very sorry. All we can do is to be with the families at this time, grieve with them and we will do everything to support them at this hour and beyond,” Chandrasekran was quoted as saying in a release.
Over 270 people were killed on June 12 when a London-bound Air India plane — a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner — carrying 242 passengers and crew crashed into a medical college complex in Ahmedabad and crashed less than a minute after takeoff.
When specifically asked about the reason for the crash and whether Air India is privy to any preliminary findings, Chandrasekaran said, “One would have to wait for the probe to conclude.”
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has begun its investigations into the crash, and the DGCA has also appointed a committee.
Chandrasekaran said that it could be a month until some of the preliminary findings are out. He, however, claimed that AI171, the flight that crashed, had a clean history and there were no red flags that had been raised.
“There are speculations about human error, speculations about airlines, speculations about engines, maintenance, all kinds,” Chandrasekaran said.
“There are a lot of speculations and lot of theories. But the fact that I know so far is this particular aircraft, this specifical tail, AI-171 has a clean history. As for the engines, the right engine was a new engine put in March 2025. The left engine was last serviced in 2023 and due for its next maintenance check in December 2025. Both engine histories are clean.
“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 is that they were excellent pilots and great professionals. So, we can’t jump to any conclusions. I am told by all the experts that the black box and recorders will definitely tell the story. So, we just have to wait for that,” he said.
When asked about the show-cause notices that had been issued by the DGCA in the recent past to Air India or fines levied on the airline for delays and operational matters, Chandrasekaran said these were not related to the AI171 aircraft.
“These are different from safety issues. If there is a safety issue, there is no way the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) will allow us to fly. And with respect to this specific aircraft, what I have seen is what I have told you.”
Chandrasekaran also said that none of the 33 Boeing 787 Dreamliners that are part of Air India’s fleet are serviced by Turkish Technic, amid questions being raised about any Turkish link to the aircraft that crashed.
“None of them (the 33 Dreamliners) are maintained by Turkish Technic. Most of them are maintained by AIESL (AI Engineering Services Limited) or SIA Engineering Company (whose parent organization is Singapore Airlines),” he said.
The former union minister for civil aviation Praful Patel has questioned the ‘silence’ of Singapore Airlines, which he said, apart from being a shareholder in Air India, was also responsible for maintaining a significant number of Air India’s wide-body aircraft.
Chandrasekaran, in the interview, responded to Patel’s claims, stating, “Singapore Airlines has been a great partner. And since we took over, they have helped us in many dimensions. Even some of the safety procedures, the best processes, we have taken from Singapore Airlines.
“We have taken it from Vistara, and many of the processes where we needed best-in-class benchmarks, they have helped us. They have reached out even at this time, their CEO is in constant touch with me. Whether it is customer experience or any other process, they are always available. They have been offering all the help they can.”
Chandrasekaran was also asked about whistleblowers who had spoken out against Boeing, specifically in the context of the manufacturing processes associated with the production of the 787 Dreamliner.
The Air India Chairman responded by saying, “These are things that are being dealt with by investigative agencies in the US, but overall 787s have been flying for a very long time, we already had 27 787s by the time we bought Air India. And we have not had any red flags in our checks,” according to the release.
Since the June 12 tragedy, several Air India flights have been cancelled, or faced delays, raising serious concerns among passengers.
Chandrasekaran acknowledged Air India needs to do a better job communicating with passengers about these matters.
“There are more than 1100 flights that we fly every day. And in the last six days, there have been in general, anywhere from 5 to 16 or 18 flights, depending on the day, that have been cancelled.”
“We’ve got to do a better job at communication. We have put a strategic communications team in the last three days,” Chandrasekaran said.
Chandrasekhar has met with senior officials of Boeing following the tragedy. He said: “So I did connect with both Boeing and GE at the highest levels. Parallel to the DGCA checks that we have gone through, I have asked them to check and tell us if there have been issues with any of the aircraft or engines,” the release said.
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