Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner that crashed in Ahmedabad was just 12 years old, flew in from Delhi hours earlier
The aircraft that crashed in Ahmedabad entered service in December 2013 and is one of 27 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners in Air India’s fleet.
AI171, an Air India flight bound for London Gatwick crashed during take-off from Ahmedabad on Thursday afternoon, in what is being described as one of the most serious aviation incidents in recent years. The aircraft, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner registered as VT-ANB, entered service in December 2013 and is considered relatively young for a widebody jet.
VT-ANB is one of 27 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners in Air India’s fleet. Earlier in the day, the aircraft had flown into Ahmedabad from New Delhi, the airline’s primary hub and engineering base. The London-bound service was operated as a codeshare with Singapore Airlines, an equity partner of Air India. This marks the first total loss, or “hull loss”, of a Dreamliner aircraft since the model entered commercial service.
This is the first crash involving a scheduled commercial airline in India since the Air India Express accident in Kozhikode in 2020, and the first major crash for Air India in over four decades. While the extent of casualties remains unconfirmed, there are fears of fatalities both on board and on the ground, as the aircraft came down in a residential area. The airline initially referred to the event as an “incident” but later confirmed the crash in posts on social media.
Flight AI171 departed Ahmedabad at 13:38 local time with 242 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 787-8, according to figures shared by the airline on social media. Among those on board were 169 Indian nationals, 53 British citizens, one Canadian and seven Portuguese nationals. Shortly after confirming the crash, Air India removed flight information from its status tracker and its website and social media pages went black, a standard protocol followed globally in the aftermath of major aviation incidents.
Immediate aftermath
Air India, government authorities and airport authorities have been engaged in relief work immediately after the crash. The government has sent out teams from the regulator to investigate. The current causes for the accident are speculative at best. Ahmedabad airport is closed for operations as is the normal in such cases with focus on relief work over operations. The closure is currently until 17:30 local time but likely to extend depending on the local situation. Ahmedabad is one of the top 10 airports in the country by passenger traffic.
This is also the first crash for the privatised Air India and any such incidents will definitely put pressure on the airline, especially now when the airline is projecting its new image along with the transit via India campaign. Having one aircraft less adds to the troubles for the airline already stretched due to Pakistani airspace closure.
What next?
As the government sets up enquiries, passengers who are scheduled to fly with Air India should keep their details updated with Air India so that the airline can contact them for any changes or updates. Based on various guidelines, Air India or the government could go for a fleet review, and there could be disruptions. There are early times, and the picture would get clear by the end of the day, with the findings of the enquiry taking even longer.
The airline and its top management will have to be on their feet, along with possible help from the entire Tata group. All airlines plan for such scenarios while they hope that they would never have to deal with these, and this includes a table exercise of a crash at a remote location and subsequent actions. However, in the past, while the government-owned Air India had seen its top management visit airports and calm the nerves, the current Air India management has stayed away from operational areas, at least from the public glare.
When recovered, the flight data recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) will direct the investigation in the days to come.
The government of India, the Government of Gujarat, airport authorities, and the airline have come together for relief, which is the number one priority at the moment. The casualties will be known in due course of time, along with more details like the people on theground who have lost lives or been injured. With a lot of fuel on board, the impact triggered a wave of fire.
All other Dreamliner aircraft of Air India are operating right now, according to data tracking sites.
