N Chandrasekaran Air India Chairman apologises for the Boeing 787 crash
N Chandrasekaran Air India Chairman apologises for the Boeing 787 crash 
Air India Chairman N. Chandrasekaran has stated that the Boeing 787 involved in the recent crash had a “clean history”, with no prior maintenance issues or red flags. In an interview with Times Now, he confirmed that the aircraft’s right engine was newly installed in March 2025 and the left one last serviced in 2023. He added that no safety concerns had ever been raised about the Dreamliner fleet. The airline continues to cooperate with investigators.
In his first public statement since the crash of Air India flight AI 171, Tata Sons and Air India Chairman N. Chandrasekaran expressed deep sorrow for the loss of more than 270 lives. “It is an extremely difficult situation where I have no words to express to console any of the families of those who died,” Chandrasekaran said in an interview with Times Now’s Navika Kumar.
“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.
Responding to questions over the cause of the crash, Chandrasekaran urged caution. “One would have to wait for the probe to conclude.
He also confirmed that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau had begun its inquiry, with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) also forming a committee and it could be a month until some of the preliminary findings are out.
Amid speculations on human error, Chandrasekaran shared that there are speculations about human error, speculations about airlines, speculations about engines, maintenance, all kinds and rejected the same.
Adding , but the fact that he knows 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 went on to reiterate that no prior safety concerns had been flagged and there were no red flags or maintenance issues. Further adding there has never been safety concerns raised, Dreamliners have been operating for a long time.
The Air India Chairman also stated that there were experienced crew on board and both the pilots were seasoned professionals. Whereas Captain Sabharwal had more than 11,500 hours of flying experience, the first officer Clive (Kundar) had more than 3,400 hours.
“What he hears from colleagues is that they were excellent pilots and great professionals. So, can’t jump to any conclusions. He was told by all the experts that the black box and recorders will definitely tell the story. So, just need to wait for that.
Amid widespread social media speculation over Turkish involvement in maintenance, Chandrasekaran clarified that none of them (the 33 Dreamliners) are maintained by Turkish Technic and explained that most are serviced by AI Engineering Services Limited (AIESL) or SIA Engineering Company, part of Singapore Airlines.
Former civil aviation minister Praful Patel recently questioned Singapore Airlines’ silence.To which 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.”
They 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.
When urged over allegations against Boeing’s 787 manufacturing process, Chandrasekaran said, that 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. They have already had 27 787s by the time they bought Air India. And have not had any red flags in their checks.
In the wake of the crash, Air India witnessed cancellations, delays and fuelling concern among passengers. Chandrasekaran acknowledged the issue saying there are more than 1,100 flights that they 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.
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.
News Edit KV Raman
