Channel criticism to build a safer airline: AI chair
Addressing the criticism the airline has faced, Chandrasekaran acknowledged that it is difficult for those who care deeply about their work and the future of the airline
Air India chairman N Chandrasekaran on Monday urged employees to channel criticism over the crash of AI Flight 171 in Ahmedabad last week into building a safer and better airline even as he met a top Boeing executive and Union aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu to discuss the accident and its aftermath.
Describing the crash as the “most heartbreaking” crisis of his career, Chandrasekaran told the company’s employees at the airline’s headquarters that “we must wait for the outcome of the investigation before drawing conclusions,” an airline official said.
Addressing the criticism the airline has faced, Chandrasekaran acknowledged that it is difficult for those who care deeply about their work and the future of the airline. However, he encouraged employees instead to draw strength from determination and channel their emotions into building a safer and better airline.
“We need to show resilience. We need to use this incident as an act of force to build a safer airline,” news agency PTI quoted him as saying.
The Air India chairman said that the airline was doing its best to help the families of the victims.
Chandrasekaran, also chairman of Air India’s owner, Tata Sons, discussed the accident with civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu in a 45-minute meeting, officials said.
“The Tata group will begin to disburse their insurance amount of ₹25 lakhs in a couple of days,” a ministry official said.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed soon after taking-oof from Ahmedabad airport, killing 241 of the 242 passengers and crew on board. In a letter, Chandrasekaran had announced ₹1crore as compensation to the families of each victim. The company later said it would pay ₹25 lakhs as interim compensation to the families.
A Reuters report citing two sources said the head of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Stephanie Pope, also met Chandrasekaran Air India’s headquarters in New Delhi on Monday. Boeing, in a statement to Reuters, declined to comment on Pope’s visit and meeting with Air India but said it is “focused on supporting the investigation” and its customer.
Air India was one of Boeing’s earlier customers for the Dreamliner when it rolled of the assembly lines in2011. Air India has a total of 33 Dreamliner 787, which are undergoing enhanced safety checks ordered by India’s aviation regulator.
Pope was accompanied by Boeing’s India President Salil Gupte, one of the sources said in the report. Pope oversees design, production and delivery of advanced jetliners to Boeing customers around the world, according to the US plane maker’s website.
The Dreamliner was fitted with GE engines and GE Aerospace’s CEO for Commercial Engines and Services, Russell Stokes, and its South Asia chief, Vikram Rai, also met Chandrasekaran on Monday, one of the sources added, according to the report.
