An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying 242 souls onboard crashed into a residential area in Ahmedabad, India, on Thursday, marking the first catastrophic failure of this aircraft model since its debut 14 years ago.
The flight AI171, bound for London’s Gatwick Airport from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, went down just five minutes after take-off at 1:38pm local time, ploughing on top of the state-run BJ Medical College hostel in the Meghani neighbourhood.
The crash comes just six weeks after Boeing celebrated the 787 programme’s historic achievement of transporting 100 million passengers across its global fleet of 1,175 aircraft. The Dreamliner series had previously completed five million flights, totalling over 30 million flight hours without a single hull-loss accident.
Global aviation experts note the timing could not be worse for Boeing, which continues grappling with crises surrounding its 737 MAX series.
The incident presents an immediate challenge for CEO Kelly Ortberg, who approaches his one-year anniversary at the helm. Hired specifically to navigate Boeing through its quality control crises, Ortberg now faces renewed scrutiny over the company’s manufacturing and safety protocols.
‘Never a fatal crash’
Alex Macheras, an independent aviation analyst, told Al Jazeera that the Boeing 787 is a long-haul craft, meaning it is capacitated for a large number of passengers.
“This is probably going to be one of the worst aviation incidents for Indian aviation history in recent decades,” Macheras said. However, he added that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, of which there are 1,100 in operation around the world, has a very good track record for safety.
“There has never been a fatal crash involving a 787 Dreamliner before this,” Macheras said. He said the incident would raise serious questions about what could have gone wrong with this flight and why the aircraft was “struggling to gain altitude” after take-off.
“The 787 has been in service for 15 years – this is a mid to long-haul passenger aircraft, one of the latest from Boeing in terms of the development and the introduction of carbon-fibre aircraft,” Macheras told Al Jazeera.
“It provides airlines with immense efficiency but also with the promise of stellar safety record that the 787 has. In fact, in its 15 years of commercial service globally, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has never been involved in a crash or a whole loss or a fatal accident,” Macheras said.
“So combined, it’s an aircraft that the industry knows is of the highest standards in terms of meeting safety regulations globally, across different markets but also one that is trusted and essentially a workhorse of the skies when it comes to long-haul travel”.
Macheras added that he is hearing from executives within the aviation industry who are “utterly shocked” at the footage.
They “can’t quite believe that an aircraft with an impeccable safety record was involved in something that looks like is going to be so catastrophic”, he said. Meanwhile, Indian authorities have launched a full investigation and rescue efforts, with the cause of the crash itself still unclear.
The crash site has been cordoned off as rescue operations continue. Air India has established an emergency response team and assistance centre at Ahmedabad airport.
Indian civil aviation disasters
The disaster marks one of India’s most severe aviation tragedies in recent times as Indian aviation authorities confirmed all souls aboard the aircraft except a miracle survivor perished when the flight crashed shortly after take-off.
Following is a detailed chronology of some other notable civilian air crashes in India in recent years:
- August 2020: An Air India Express Boeing 737 aircraft veered off the runway during heavy rainfall in Kozhikode, plummeting into a valley.
- May 2010: A Dubai-originating Air India Boeing 737 overshot the runway at Mangaluru Airport, resulting in 158 fatalities when the aircraft plunged into a gorge.
- July 2000: An Alliance Air flight servicing the Kolkata-Delhi route crashed in a Patna residential area, claiming over 50 lives.
- April 1993: Fifty-five passengers died when an Indian Airlines Boeing 737 crashed during take-off in Aurangabad.
- August 1991: A Kolkata-Imphal Indian Airlines flight crashed during its descent near Manipur’s capital, killing all 69 occupants.
- October 1988: More than 130 passengers perished when an Indian Airlines Boeing 737 crashed during its landing approach in Ahmedabad.
- January 1978: All 213 passengers aboard an Air India flight died when the aircraft lost altitude after take-off and crashed into the Arabian Sea near Mumbai.