India’s Civil Aviation Minister stated that the government is urgently inspecting all Boeing 787 aircraft, adding that authorities are investigating all potential causes related to the Air India incident.
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said at a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday (June 14): “We have ordered expanded inspections of the Boeing 787 fleet. There are a total of 34 such aircraft in the Indian fleet.” However, he did not specify whether the inspection applied to all Indian airlines.
Reuters quoted him as saying: “Eight aircraft have already undergone inspection, and all of them will be inspected urgently.”
According to data from the flight-tracking website Flightradar24, Air India operates 33 Boeing 787 aircraft, whereas its rival IndiGo operates only one.
On Friday, India’s aviation regulator ordered Air India to conduct additional maintenance checks on its Boeing 787-8/9 aircraft equipped with GEnx engines; these measures include evaluating specific takeoff parameters, testing electronic engine controls, and performing engine fuel-related inspections.
However, the aircraft have not yet been grounded, though a source told Reuters on Friday that the Indian government is considering the option of grounding the fleet.
This marks the first press conference held by the Indian government regarding the plane crash that occurred near Ahmedabad Airport in Gujarat on Thursday (the 12th). The government has established two separate committees—one for a technical investigation and the other for an incident inquiry—to analyze all potential causes of the crash; the investigation reports are expected to be released within three months.
According to Reuters, Air India and the Indian government are investigating several aspects of the crash, including engine thrust, the status of the flaps, and the reasons why the landing gear remained deployed after takeoff.
Naidu also stated that the airliner’s “black boxes”—the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder—were recovered on Friday afternoon (the 13th). Although one of the units sustained damage, officials believe the data can still be retrieved. The black boxes will undergo analysis in India, and U.S. investigators are expected to arrive on Sunday (the 15th). Search and rescue teams at the scene reported that the black boxes were found on the roof of the student cafeteria at B.J. Medical College in Ahmedabad, where the aircraft had struck the building.
A Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad Airport on Thursday; the flight was bound for Gatwick Airport in the UK. Seconds after takeoff, the aircraft began to descend and erupted into a fireball upon striking a building below. Only one passenger survived; the others perished when the plane hit the B.J. Medical College dormitory. This marks the deadliest air disaster worldwide in a decade.
The death toll from the Air India crash has risen to 279, with at least 38 of the victims being people on the ground. Naidu stated that DNA sampling is currently underway to identify the deceased and facilitate the handover of remains to their families.
Indian officials announced at a press conference that the aircraft crashed at 1:40 p.m. local time on the 12th, noting that no issues had been reported prior to the crash. Around 6:00 p.m. that evening, representatives from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the aviation authority, and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau arrived at the scene.
The British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported that in his final communication with air traffic controllers, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal said: “Mayday. No thrust, lost power, unable to climb.”
This crisis has cast a shadow over Air India. Since the Tata Group took over the airline from the Indian government in 2022, the company has been striving to rebuild its reputation and restructure its fleet. The Tata Group chairman stated on Friday that the group wants to uncover the truth behind the incident, but added, “At the moment, we do not know.”