AAIB report shows nothing wrong with Air India ops: MD & CEO Wilson

Air India CEO Campbell Wilson says the AAIB's preliminary report on the June crash found no fault with aircraft, engines, or airline practices, while support for victims' families continues

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB’s) preliminary investigation report on the AI-171 crash, which was released in July, indicated there was “nothing wrong” with Air India’s operations and that no changes were required in its existing practices, the airline’s managing director and chief executive officer (MD&CEO) Campbell Wilson said on Wednesday. 

“Anything that happens in the industry, whether that’s us or others, is a cause for introspection. It is a cause for reviewing practices... The interim report indicated that there was nothing wrong with aircraft engines or practices that required changing. But, of course, we're always looking at how we can keep improving, keep getting better, and keep learning,” Wilson said. 

 

On June 12, Air India Flight AI-171, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, from Ahmedabad to London crashed into a college building shortly after takeoff, killing 241 people on board and leaving only one survivor. 

“This is really the first public engagement that we’ve done in India since that tragic day,” Wilson said during a panel discussion at Aviation India 2025 summit here. “It was absolutely devastating for the people involved, for the families of those involved, for the company, for the staff,” Wilson added. 

The AAIB had released its preliminary report on July 12, which revealed that fuel supply to both engines was cut off shortly after takeoff. The two fuel control switches were moved to the “cutoff” position in quick succession, and although they were turned back on about 10 seconds later, the engines had already flamed out. The report stated that one pilot asked the other why he moved the switches, and the other responded by denying it. The report did not identify who said what. The AAIB did not rule out technical faults, and said aviation medicine and psychology experts were involved in the ongoing probe.

 

Wilson said: “We’ve had more than 600 people on the ground in Ahmedabad. We’ve set up a Trust (to support affected people) through Tata Sons. We have provided ex-gratia payments to all the families of those affected. We’ve obviously completed the interim compensation of our own, and we are working through the final compensation. There is commitment from both Air India and from Tata to do absolutely all we can for as long as it takes to bring closure to those that have been affected.” 

“We’re also working with investigators. We’re not involved in the investigation directly. It’s something that is run by the government. The interim report indicated that there was nothing wrong with the aircraft, the engines or the operation of the airline. We obviously, as everyone else, await the final report, and if there’s anything to learn from it, we will absolutely make sure that we do. But for the moment, our focus is on to make sure that we help them the best way we can,” he added. 

In the initial phase, for the three months following the accident, the airline reduced its international wide-body flights by about 15 per cent. This was done just to ensure that there was time for even more checks than would normally be the case, to recognise the fact that pilots and engineers were being even more cautious than usual, Wilson noted. 

“We had deliberately, both voluntarily and from a regulatory caution perspective, put in additional checks, and that has now progressively gone back to a more normal level of operations,” he added.