Air India flight to London carrying 242 people crashes in Ahmedabad

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An Air India flight to London Gatwick has crashed in Ahmedabad in western India shortly after take-off, with 242 people on board.

Air India said that those on the Boeing 787-8 aircraft included 169 Indian nationals, as well as 53 British citizens, seven Portuguese and one Canadian. There were also 10 cabin crew and two pilots.

India’s health minister Jagat Prakash Nadda said that “many people” had been killed in Thursday’s crash, but did not give a precise number.

The police chief in Ahmedabad said there appeared to be no survivors from the crash, according to reports from news agencies.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was more than 10 years old, according to Flightradar24, which added that after reaching an altitude of 625 feet, the aircraft began to descend with a vertical speed of 475 feet per minute.

The aircraft tracking service added that the plane’s signal was lost at 1.38pm local time, just after take-off.

Rohan Krishnan, head of Indian doctors’ association Faima, said the flight crashed into the BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad, adding that some students had been taken to hospital.

It is the first time a 787 has crashed, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.

Boeing shares were down 7 per cent in pre-market trading on Thursday.

The crash comes as Boeing tries to rebuild trust after a series of safety crises including two fatal crashes of its 737 Max model in 2018 and 2019, which led to the departure of its then chief executive Dennis Muilenburg.

The mid-air blowout of a door plug on a 737 Max-9 jet operated by Alaska Airlines in January 2024 triggered another clear-out of top management amid concerns over the quality of Boeing’s manufacturing.

Kelly Ortberg, who became the manufacturer’s new chief executive last August, has sought to stabilise Boeing’s production and improve its quality control processes, as well as shore up its balance sheet.

The company said on Thursday that its “thoughts are with the passengers, crew, first responders and all affected”.

Police in Gujarat state told the Financial Times that the plane crashed “within 10 minutes” of taking off from the airport in Ahmedabad.

The Indian aviation regulator said the aircraft made a mayday call to air traffic control “but thereafter no response was given by the aircraft to the calls made by ATC”.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer wrote on X on Thursday: “The scenes emerging of a London-bound plane carrying many British nationals crashing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad are devastating.”

“My thoughts are with the passengers and their families at this deeply distressing time,” he added.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “The tragedy in Ahmedabad has stunned and saddened us. It is heartbreaking beyond words.”

Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chair of Tata, which took over the airline from state control in 2022, said: “With profound sorrow I confirm that Air India Flight 171 operating Ahmedabad London Gatwick was involved in a tragic accident today.”

Tata had promised to modernise the carrier, and, in 2023, Air India agreed a deal with Boeing and Airbus to buy 470 new aircraft, one of the largest orders in aviation history.

John Strickland, an aviation consultant, said Boeing’s 787 had a “good in-service safety record”, adding that it was “too early to speculate on the likely cause” of the accident.

Air India had faced the “challenges of decades of state ownership and poor management”, said Strickland.

However, he said that since being sold to Tata, experienced management had been brought in and the carrier “had begun to move in the right direction both operationally and commercially”.