Air India Plane Crash: One of the engines of the Air India plane that crashed last week was new, while the other was not due for servicing until December, Tata Sons and Air India Chairman N Chandrasekaran said recently in an interview with a news channel, adding that both engines of the aircraft had ‘clean’ histories.
“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,” he said.
“There are a lot of speculations and a lot of theories. But the fact that I know so far is this particular aircraft, this specific tail, AI171, has a clean history,” he added, cautioning people against jumping to conclusions.
Pilots were ‘exceptional’, says Chandrasekaran
He further mentioned that the airline’s Boeing 787-8 aircraft that crashed moments after takeoff in Ahmedabad on June 12 had a clean history, and the pilots flying it were “exceptional”.
Chandrasekaran reiterated that it would be best to wait for the investigation to conclude, and not jump to any conclusions on what might have led to the crash, the worst aviation disaster involving an Indian carrier in at least four decades.
“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 added.
Air India Plane Crash
An Air India Boeing 787-8 aircraft operating flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick crashed moments after take-off on June 12, killing at least 265 people. Of the 242 people on board, including 230 passengers and 12 crew members, only one survived. The crash also caused several fatalities on the ground.
The aircraft burst into flames after crashing into buildings inside the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital compound in Ahmedabad. Many of the bodies were charred beyond recognition.
This is one of the worst air disasters in India in recent years. Investigators from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) are analysing debris, flight data, and cockpit audio recovered from the black boxes to determine the cause of the crash.
