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31-10-2025
Bureau Report
NEW DELHI: Air India’s CEO vowed on Wednesday to improve internal practices after a plane crash in June killed 260 people, in his first public comments about the accident that he said would contribute to a “challenging” year for the airline.
The Tata Group-owned carrier has been facing intense scrutiny ever since the crash, from warning notices for running planes without checking emergency equipment to not changing engine parts in time and forging records, along with other lapses related to crew fatigue management.
“We’re always looking at how we can keep improving,” CEO Campbell Wilson said at an Aviation India event in India’s capital city, speaking publicly for the first time since the crash of the Boeing, opens new tab Dreamliner in India’s Ahmedabad city.
“This year will be quite challenging from a business perspective … We’re also working with the investigators,” he added.
India’s air accidents investigating agency published an interim report earlier this year saying the plane’s fuel engine switches had almost simultaneously flipped from run to cutoff just after takeoff.
Air India also faces delayed jet deliveries and airspace closures due to geopolitical tensions, which have weighed on its performance as it strives to recover from the crash.
India and Pakistan fought their fiercest military conflict in decades in May, sparked by an attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Kashmir that killed 26 people. New Delhi alleged Islamabad backed the attack, which Pakistan denied.
The two nuclear-armed neighbors have since closed their airspaces to each other’s airlines.
“Airspace constraints are a challenge to on-time performance,” Wilson said.
In July, a preliminary report depicted confusion in the cockpit shortly before an Air India jetliner crashed and killed 260 people last month, after the plane’s engine fuel cutoff switches flipped almost simultaneously and starved the engines of fuel.
The Boeing, opens new tab 787 Dreamliner bound for London from the Indian city of Ahmedabad began to lose thrust and sink shortly after takeoff, according to the report on the world’s deadliest aviation accident in a decade released on Saturday by Indian accident investigators.
The report by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) about the June 12 crash raises fresh questions over the position of the critical engine fuel cutoff switches.
Almost immediately after the plane lifted off the ground, closed-circuit TV footage showed a backup energy source called a ram air turbine had deployed, indicating a loss of power from the engines.
In the flight’s final moments, one pilot was heard on the cockpit voice recorder asking the other why he cut off the fuel. “The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” the report said.
It did not identify which remarks were made by the flight’s captain and which by the first officer, nor which pilot transmitted “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday” just before the crash.
The commanding pilot of the Air India plane was Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, who had a total flying experience of 15,638 hours and, according to the Indian government, was also an Air India instructor. His co-pilot was Clive Kunder, 32, who had 3,403 hours of total experience.
