“I deeply regret that this accident happened in a Tata-run airline. And I feel very sorry. All we can do is to be with the families at this time, grieve with them and we will do everything to support them at this hour and beyond,” he added.
The London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed less than a minute after take-off from Ahmedabad, colliding with a medical college complex.
No early conclusions, preliminary report in 30 days
Responding to questions about the cause of the crash, Chandrasekaran urged caution. “One would have to wait for the probe to conclude,” he said.
He confirmed that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau had begun its inquiry, with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) also forming a committee. “It could be a month until some of the preliminary findings are out,” he said.
Clean engine history, no red flags
Rejecting speculation, Chandrasekaran shared details of the aircraft’s service history. “There are speculations about human error, speculations about airlines, speculations about engines, maintenance, all kinds,” he said.“But the fact that I know so far is this particular aircraft, this specific tail, AI-171 has a clean history. As for the engines, 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. Both engine histories are clean,” he told Times Now.He reiterated that no prior safety concerns had been flagged. “There were no red flags or maintenance issues,” Chandrasekaran said. “Never been safety concerns raised, Dreamliners have been operating for a long time.”
Experienced crew on board
Both pilots were seasoned professionals. “Captain Sabharwal had more than 11,500 hours of flying experience, the first officer Clive (Kundar) had more than 3,400 hours,” Chandrasekaran stated.
“What I hear from colleagues is that they were excellent pilots and great professionals. So, we can’t jump to any conclusions. 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.
No link to Turkish Technic
Amid widespread social media speculation about Turkish involvement in maintenance, Chandrasekaran clarified that “None of them (the 33 Dreamliners) are maintained by Turkish Technic.” He explained that most are serviced by AI Engineering Services Limited (AIESL) or SIA Engineering Company, which is part of Singapore Airlines.
Singapore Airlines under scrutiny
Former civil aviation minister Praful Patel recently questioned Singapore Airlines’ silence. Chandrasekaran responded, saying, “Singapore Airlines has been a great partner. And since we took over, they have helped us in many dimensions. Even some of the safety procedures, the best processes, we have taken from Singapore Airlines.”
“We have taken it from Vistara, and many of the processes where we needed best-in-class benchmarks, they have helped us. They have reached out even at this time, their CEO is in constant touch with me,” he said.
Whistleblower claims and Boeing investigations
Asked about allegations against Boeing’s 787 manufacturing process, Chandrasekaran said, “These are things that are being dealt with by investigative agencies in the US, but overall 787s have been flying for a very long time. We already had 27 787s by the time we bought Air India. And we have not had any red flags in our checks.”
In the wake of the crash, Air India has seen cancellations and delays, fuelling concern among passengers. Chandrasekaran acknowledged the issue. “There are more than 1,100 flights that we fly every day. And in the last six days, there have been in general, anywhere from 5 to 16 or 18 flights, depending on the day, that have been cancelled.”
He admitted that communication with passengers has been inadequate. “We’ve got to do a better job at communication. We have put a strategic communications team in the last three days,” he said.
Chandrasekaran also confirmed he has personally reached out to the top management at Boeing and General Electric. “I did connect with both Boeing and GE at the highest levels. Parallel to the DGCA checks that we have gone through, I have asked them to check and tell us if there have been issues with any of the aircraft or engines,” he stated.
