'Most heartbreaking one': Air India Chairman N. Chandrasekaran vows safer airline after fatal AI171 crash

Following the fatal crash of Air India flight AI171 in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025, N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Air India and Tata Sons, addressed a town hall today at the headquarters of the Tata Group-owned airline near New Delhi and the Air India Training Academy in Gurugram. He offered a message of solidarity while vowing to build a safer airline.

Addressing a gathering of around 700 airline employees, Chandrasekaran, also known as Chandra, stated that while he has witnessed several crises in his life, the airline crash was the "most heartbreaking one," a Tata Group spokesperson stated, citing Chandra.

In one of the most tragic aviation incidents, Air India Flight AI-171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, crashed near Ahmedabad International Airport shortly after take-off on June 12, 2025. Of the 242 occupants, only one passenger survived. Following the impact on the ground, the death toll has reached 270, as many of those who were injured have succumbed to their injuries.

While addressing the Air India employees, Chandra emphasised that although his words could not bring back the lives lost in the accident, the company was determined to provide all possible help to the families of the deceased and the victims. "Whatever I say and whatever we do is not going to bring the lives back; we have got to do our very best humanly possible to help each of the affected families." Urging all employees to be "strong," Chandra said if anyone felt distraught, the word they should remember was "determination." "We are going to get through this. We need to show resilience. We need to use this incident as an act of force to build a safer airline."

Chandra acknowledged that facing "criticisms" was not easy, but stressed that the airline and its employees would need to show "resilience" and make efforts toward building a safer airline. He added that the ongoing investigation would help find answers to many unanswered questions. "Criticisms are there, and those of us who are very passionate, who are emotional, who give our best to the job that we perform, who are working on making this airline a great airline, and who genuinely care about what kind of a company we want to build, but it's not easy to face criticisms."

He said he visited the site of the accident on June 12, which was "not easy at all." "We are getting more determined and the limited thing I would like to say is that it's not the time to talk about what we will do, but I want to say that we will consider all the people who lost someone as our family forever," said Chandra.

He explained that the airline business is a "very complex business," a complex machine. "So a lot of redundancies, checks and balances, certifications, which have been perfected over years and years. Yet this happens, so we will figure out why it happens after the investigation. So we just have to stay calm and not put your shoulders down. This is the time to be brave, time to be resolute, time to know that you have the full support," Chandra stated.

Air India CEO & MD Campbell Wilson has announced immediate financial support of ₹25 lakh, or around 21,000 British pounds, to each of the families of the deceased and also to the survivor of the crash, which is in addition to the ₹1 crore, or around 85,000 British pounds, committed by Tata Sons. The process of reuniting next of kin with their loved ones and personal effects is underway, and 99 samples have been matched already, with 64 bodies handed over to their families, Reuters quoted Rakesh Joshi, Medical Superintendent of a civil hospital in Ahmedabad, as saying.

Air India is also in the process of completing precautionary safety checks on Boeing 787 aircraft as directed by the DGCA. The government has said all aspects of the crash will be analysed from all possible angles by a high-level committee, which will conduct the investigation. A five-member AAIB team is investigating the crash and has recovered the "black box" from the site. The government has also formed another high-level committee under the chairmanship of the Home Secretary, which will not substitute other inquiries being conducted by relevant organisations but will focus on formulating SOPs to prevent disasters and handle such incidents going forward. It will submit the report in three months.