Air India’s chairman has said the Boeing Dreamliner plane which crashed in Ahmedabad last week had a “clean history”. N Chandrasekaran, who also chairs the carrier’s owner Tata Group, said two engines on the jet had also been serviced recently. He said it could be a month until initial results of an investigation emerge and sought to dispel speculation.
Mr Chandrasekaran told Indian publication, The Economic Times: “There are speculations about human error, speculations about airlines, speculations about engines, maintenance, all kinds.” He added: “But the fact that I know so far is this particular aircraft, this specific tail, AI-171 has a clean history.”
London-bound Air India flight 171 crashed into a residential neighbourhood of the northwestern city of Ahmedabad minutes after taking off last Thursday. At least 270 people were killed, including all but one of the 242 people on board.
Air India’s chairman said the Dreamliner’s right engine was “new”, having been installed in March, while the left engine was servived in 2023 and scheduled for a check in December.
Mr Chandrasekaran said the captain of the jet, Sumeet Sabharwal, had over 11,500 hours of experience flying while the first officer, Clive Kunder, had clocked up more than 3,400.
The Tata Group boss said that colleagues of the pair had told him they were “excellent pilots and great professionals”, advising against jumping to conclusions.
Extra safety inspections of Air India’s fleet after the fatal crash have led to delays and cancellations.
India’s aviation safety regulator ordered deeper checks on Boeing 787 aircraft operated by the airline soon after the crash on June 12.
The precautionary inspections have strained Air India operations across domestic and international routes.
Since the crash, Air India has cancelled operations of a total of 83 wide-body flights, including 66 Dreamliners, according to data shared by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India’s aviation safety regulator.
In a statement on Tuesday, India’s aviation directorate said surveillance conducted on Air India’s Dreamliner fleet so far has found no “major safety concerns”.
The jets and their associated maintenance systems were found to be compliant with existing safety standards, the directorate said. It added that of the 33 aircraft, 24 completed the inspections while four were undergoing long-term maintenance. The rest were expected to complete safety checks soon.
But the regulator raised concerns about maintenance-related issues reported by the airline and advised it to “strictly adhere to regulations”.
It asked Air India to strengthen internal coordination across engineering, operations and ground handling units and ensure adequate availability of spares to mitigate flight delays.
Indian conglomerate Tata Sons took over Air India in 2022, returning the debt-ridden national carrier to private ownership after decades of government control.
The £1.78billion ($2.4billion) deal was seen as the government’s effort to sell off a loss-making, state-run businesses. In some ways it was also a homecoming for Air India, which was launched by the Tata family in 1932.
Since the takeover, Air India has ordered hundreds of new planes worth over £52bn ($70bn), redesigned its branding and livery and absorbed smaller airlines Tata held stakes in.
The company has also committed millions of dollars to digital overhauls of aircraft and refurbishing interiors of more than five dozen legacy planes.