June crash ‘heartbreaking’, no tech fault, says Air India CEO

Air India CEO Campbell Wilson on Wednesday described the June plane crash that killed 260 people as a “heartbreaking tragedy”.

He said the airline had been doing everything possible to stand by the victims’ families and its own staff shaken by the disaster.

Speaking at the Aviation India and South Asia 2025 conference in New Delhi, his first public appearance in India since the accident, Wilson said the interim probe had ruled out any technical or operational fault in the aircraft or its engines.

“The incident was beyond devastating, for the passengers, their loved ones, and everyone at Air India. Since that day, our focus has been on helping the affected families, supporting our people on the ground and doing everything we can to ease their pain,” said Wilson.

The June 12 crash, one of the deadliest air disasters in India, involved a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner operating as flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick. The plane went down shortly after take-off, killing 241 passengers and 19 crew members.

Wilson said interim compensation for the victims and their families had been completed and the airline was now finalising the next phase. “We will await the final report. If there’s anything that needs fixing, we won’t hesitate, we will act,” he said.

According to the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) preliminary findings, the fuel supply to both engines was cut off within seconds, creating chaos in the cockpit. The cockpit voice recorder captured one pilot asking, “Why did you cut off?”, to which the other replied, “I didn’t.”

Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu recently dismissed allegations of bias in the investigation, insisting that “no manipulation or cover-up” had taken place. But questions continue to swirl around the probe’s handling and transparency.

Wilson said every such event forces the industry to look inwards. “Whenever something like this happens, whether it’s us or anyone else, it’s a moment of reflection. The interim report found no procedural lapses, but our job is to keep improving,” he said.

On the airline’s broader transformation, Wilson said Air India’s legacy Boeing 787-8 fleet would be refurbished by mid-2027, followed by the Boeing 777s by early 2028. The first of the new Dreamliners is expected to arrive between December and January, with two Airbus A350-1000s to follow in the next financial year.

“From 2026 onwards, we’ll be inducting a new wide-body aircraft roughly every six weeks,” Wilson said, calling it a “once-in-a-generation rebuild” of Air India’s fleet. The airline, which has around 190 aircraft, has already completed the retrofit of all 27 older A320neo planes.

At the same conference, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers pushed back against claims that India was blocking foreign airlines, calling such views “simply incorrect”.

He said India was opening its skies “selectively and sensibly” and stressed that massive growth opportunities exist for direct international connectivity. IndiGo, which operates over 2,200 flights daily, has recently launched routes to London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Manchester.

Akasa Air CEO Vinay Dube said his airline, the youngest in the country, would go public within two to five years. “We are not chasing blind expansion. We are focused on sustainable growth and strong fundamentals,” said Dube, adding that Akasa was already cash-positive and financially healthy.