NEW DELHI: Tata Sons and Air India’s chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Friday that they will be completely transparent about what led to the fatal Ahmedabad-London flight crash, which killed 241 of the 242 onboard on Thursday.
Chandrasekaran also termed the crash as one of the darkest days in the Mumbai-headquartered Tata Group's history.
The Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner (flight Al171) carrying 242 passengers and crew had crashed almost immediately after takeoff from Ahmedabad Airport on Thursday afternoon.
“I want to say that, like you, we want to understand what happened. We don't know right now, but we will. You know that in the past 24 hours, investigative teams from India, UK, and the US have arrived in Ahmedabad to investigate the crash. They have our full cooperation, and we will be completely transparent about the findings.
"We owe it to the families and loved ones, to our pilots and crew, and to you. The Tata Group takes its responsibility to society seriously, and that includes being open about what occurred yesterday,” the airline Chairman said.
Meanwhile, the black box from the Ahmedabad-London flight was recovered on Thursday. This is likely to help investigators ascertain the reason behind the crash.
The Tata Group formally took charge of Air India in January 2022 and since then has faced numerous complaints from passengers regarding service quality and operational deficiencies. However, none of them were fatal until the Thursday crash.
Chandrasekaran said that right now there is plenty of speculation all around them and some of it may be right while some of it may be wrong.
“Why this routine flight turned into a calamity is something trained investigators will help us understand when their work is complete. Once we have verified facts, we will be transparent in our communication about how this tragedy took place,” he stated.
On Thursday, Chandrasekaran announced that the Tata Group will provide Rs 1 crore to the family of each person who lost their life in the crash. The airline’s Chief Executive Officer Campbell Wilson had said that they share accurate and timely information as soon as they can.
