Yesterday was a very sad day for aviation, as we saw the tragic crash of an Air India Boeing 787, claiming at least 290 lives (between those onboard and those on the ground). It’s the worst aviation disaster we’ve seen in many years, and hopefully an investigation reveals what happened, so that nothing like this…
Continue reading: Air India CEO Campbell Wilson Crash Briefing: Plagiarized?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
From an insider: Every airline basically has a template for this kind of message, and the outline with the text is shared between them. (There are mid-level comms employees responsible for this kind of thing, from different airlines, who know each other; there's a group chat...)
Pressed for time, both employees copied exactly from the template and passed it up the food chain to the boss.
I don't think this diminishes the sincerity of his response. Better well copied than poorly created.
I respect your viewpoint but sad to see at the same time. In the same way that lessons are learned from accident investigations, here is an example of learning a lesson in good communications. Whether he consciously knew it was a carbon copy or not (I assume he wasn’t the one who wrote it anyway, just like I’m not sure it was Isom who wrote his own), the crucial part was putting the communication out there. Why on earth does it make it less sincere? Again, you’re assuming Isom wrote his own too. The messaging is more important at a time of crisis and he is showing leadership, from diverting his own flight to getting it out there as quickly as possible.
Of course we should expect AI’s PR/Comms team to do a better job with the script, but his job is not to write it!
Ditto. Airlines that are ordinarily competitors have a long established history of collaboration when it comes to safety across traditional commercial agreements, alliances and international lines.
Great observation.
What I noticed yesterday when I saw his statement was that he said this: "For now, our teams are working around the clock to support passengers, crew, and their families, as well as investigators," with zero mention of those on the ground who were killed.
It make sense now when viewed from the perspective of "he simply reused a statement made from different crash that didn't kill people on the ground."
He needs to get a new comms team, or else hire a crisis management PR firm.
Wow, that's incredibly insensitive of him and completely changes the perspective.
They may have used AI to generate the speech and AI just copied what it had learned from Isom's speech. AI learns from existing data that is feed to it. Since Planes don't crash very often - the AI they used might have only had one option to copy.
AI also diverted loads of flights because of the closure of Iranian airspace.
My partner was on AI130 LHR-BOM departed 9:10PM on 12 June (Thursday), right after the AI171 crash news. Then the flight turned around when overflying Turkey and landed in Vienna 8 hours later.
Communication on the ground in Vienna has been abysmal and ground staff refused to rebook him to Bangkok (final destination) on a different airline, citing there's nothing they can do as bookings are controlled centrally.
Airspace closure is out of their control but how AI is dealing with the situation is shambles.
@Lucky if you want to post about this as a news article let me know.
Firstly, a CEO is having to deal with the tragic deaths of hundreds of his clients and employees and someone takes issue that he said 'Good afternoon...'. Talk about not seeing the woods from the trees...
Secondly, this is real life. It's not a classroom. It's not a publishing house. I appreciate that a sensitive statement was issued by the CEO. I couldn't care less about someone's sissy pearl-clutching about supposed plagiarism. Why? Because this is real life tragedy. Grow up and get your priorities in good order!
On a final note: commiserations to the families/friends of those affected by this tragedy.
The important message here is speed. Air India ideally wanted to get a statement out as quickly as possible. Writing a new speech that holds a lot of weight, given the situation may have been tough. Not even combined with the emotional aspect of all of this on him. Sometimes, we expect people in the highest positions to always be "on" or perfect. They ain't. Just remember, he has to sleep with this tragic incident on his mind for the rest of his life.
If anything, I think Boeing has lots of questions to answer considering it was their plane. NTSB as the standard will take years to investigate.
That's no excuse for completely ignoring the destruction visited upon dozens of people who weren't even on the plane.
How on earth can it be 'sensitive' while ignoring the casualties on the ground?
Yes, but if you're intelligent enough to become the CEO of a major airline, you should be intelligent enough to improvise appropriately during such a statement. Honestly, there's nothing wrong with starting off with a template speech - but you have to alter it appropriately. This shouldn't take very long to do and would have been the appropriate way to deliver the message. As someone here is saying, many were also killed on the ground. How hard would it have been to literall add a word or two to acknowlege this?
No, this was basically a rookie effort here.
I get what you are saying. We read this blog because we are aviation enthusiasts. Hence why we came across this video. If I didn't read this blog, this specific video would have never come onto my radar. So I have to wonder how many people are even paying attention to a specific video by the CEO? Most are reading news articles by various publications. This was a video posted on X.
So could the CEO have done a better job? Sure. But this is an unprecedented event. Let's not nitpick on wording or lack thereof.
Someone at Air India definitely used AI to write a speech, and the AI model really only had a couple of examples to go off, first being the Isom video.
We will see these kind of things more and more nowadays.
Overlooking an entire cohort of people killed when his* plane crashed into their hostel is...why yes, "insensitive" as you state.
*And no, pinhead, I know he didn't own the plane outright. "His" is figure of speech; he is the CEO of Air India, and is therefore the face of...Air India.
Wilson never worked for SIA hence there was no “SQ training” to speak of.
He was the CEO of Scoot.
He was the big boss there and he was not “trained” by SIA.
Bloggers spouting nonsense as usual.
I was in my 20's when the Tylenol poising happen. Back then, CEOs would hide behind vaguely worded statements drafted by a gaggle of lawyers deflecting any responsibility. Instead, J&J got in-front of the story which became a text book example on how to handle a corporate crisis.
Instead to continuing to the Paris Olympics like Ed Bastian did during the CrowdStrike situation, Mr Wilson turned his jet back to Indian to handle the situation. Yep, the statement could have used some vetting, but at least, he got in-front of the situation.
So this moron had to turn around a plane, inconvenience 200+ passengers, all so he plagarize a message of fake sincerity.
Top marks!
In regards to sincerity, if you have drills for this kind of thing with teams all prepped, how is that any more less sincere than what this is?
Not only that.
When I worked for an airline, I had a friend who worked at the Safety Department of the same airline.
Usually airlines have contracts with crisis management companies that provide them support during crisis. I wouldn’t be surprised if AA and Air India have a contract with the same crisis management company.
Not many of these on the market to choose from.
One of the most well-known is Kenyon.
When I worked for an airline, I had a friend who worked at the Safety Department of the same airline.
Usually airlines have contracts with crisis management companies that provide them support during crisis. I wouldn’t be surprised if AA and Air India have a contract with the same crisis management company.
Not many of these on the market to choose from.
One of the most well-known is Kenyon.
It's Air India, they just farmed the speech out to one of those telephone pools, and this is what they got.
Saying you're sorry if you don't really care because that's what you think the person wants or needs to hear. is the quintessential definition of insincerity.
Wilson was SVP of sales at SQ before he went over to Scoot. By that time, he was already 15 years into an SQ career.
By going over to Scoot, he was still in the SQ ecosphere for the next 5 years. He then returned to SQ for another few years before heading over to Air India.
Even without his tenure at Scoot, he had been with Singapore Airlines a good 2 decades.
I don’t agree. This is the ChatGPT comparison Maybe the structure is the same but your conclusion is no supported.
Here are the two transcripts, placed side by side for easy comparison. They are clearly different; note the variations in structure, length, and detail.
Robert Isom – American Airlines (DC crash, Jan 29, 2025)
Source: Rev transcript of press briefing
Isom:
“Good morning. I’m Robert Isom, the CEO of American Airlines. I want to express my sincere condolences for the accident that happened at DCA last night. We’re absolutely heartbroken for the family and loved ones of the passengers and crew members, and also for those that were on the military aircraft. Our focus right now is doing everything that we can to support all of those involved and also the PSA Airlines team. This is devastating. We are all hurting incredibly. We urge any family and friends looking for information about their loved ones to call our designated helpline, and that’s at 1‑800‑679‑8215. 1‑800‑679‑8215.”
“American Eagle Flight 5342, operated by PSA Airlines… traveling from Wichita, Kansas to Reagan National… was involved in an accident just before 9:00 P.M. local time on final approach… It collided with a military aircraft… we don’t know why… Flight 5342, a CRJ 700… carried 60 passengers… total of 64 on board.”
“In addition to local resources… American Airlines has activated our care team… go‑team… on ground here in DC… on-site in DC and Wichita… our sole focus. And we’re so grateful for the first responders… courageous efforts.”
Campbell Wilson – Air India (Ahmedabad crash, June 12, 2025)
Sources: LinkedIn post and Economic Times transcript 
Wilson (LinkedIn):
“Good evening. I am sharing this message from Ahmedabad, where Air India flight AI171 to Gatwick crashed shortly after takeoff yesterday. Tragically, since my first briefing, we have confirmed that 241 of the 242 passengers and crew perished in the incident. All of us at Air India are devastated by this loss and grieve for those affected, their families and their loved ones.”
“Air India’s advanced team of nearly 100 caregivers and 40 engineering staff has now arrived in Ahmedabad. The technical team is now helping at the site… caregivers are providing support to families. Many more caregivers are travelling to Ahmedabad… friends and relatives assistance centres at Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi and London Gatwick.”
“The Tata Group… will provide one crore rupees (approximately £85,000) to the families of each person who lost their life… we’ll cover the medical expenses of those injured. We are also deeply concerned for the well-being of the students of the medical hostel involved… committed to providing full and unstinting assistance…”
From Economic Times:
“1st and most importantly, I would like to express our deep sorrow about this event. This is a difficult day for all of us at Air India… I know that there are many questions and at this stage I will not be able to answer all of them. But I do want to share the information we have at this time.”
“Air India flight AI171… Boeing 787‑8… travelling from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick… carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members. Of the passengers, 169 are Indian nationals, 53 are British nationals, 7 Portuguese, 1 Canadian. The injured passengers have been taken… a special team of caregivers… investigations will take time.”
Key Differences
Feature Robert Isom (DC) Campbell Wilson (Ahmedabad)
Mode of delivery Live press briefing Pre-recorded LinkedIn video + subsequent public statements
Casualty detail Acknowledges those “on the military aircraft” Confirms 241 of 242 perish; detailed nationality breakdown
Support offered Care/go-teams, single helpline ~100 caregivers, ~40 engineers, multi-city assistance centers, financial aid by Tata Group
Compensation No mention ₹1 crore (~£85,000) per family; medical cost covered
Tone Somber, factual, operational Empathetic, expansive, emotionally open
Transparency “I won’t be able to answer many” at this stage Acknowledges many questions, pledges transparency and long-term support
✅ Conclusion
These are two entirely different speeches: they do not match verbatim, and differ significantly in content, tone, and detail. Let me know if you’d like a visual diff or annotated document!
Lol. I worked with an outsourced Indian firm. I told them I won't allow any work to start until they wrote a technical specification for me. They didn't know how but insisted they were the best and will have the best specification for me. Months went by and they kept asking me what should be in there and I kept telling them a simple basic tech spec, I'm not even going to ask for that much detail at this point. Finally, the upper bosses got p*ssed it was taking so long so low and behold a tech spec arrives on my desk. They said to me we wrote you a brilliant spec, we think you will love it. I read it and I said you're right I do love it because..... IT'S MY OWN DOCUMENT" that I wrote for another project. They couldn't even copy & paste it correctly. The charts were all screwed up. I confronted them and all they could say was no, no, no and literally no other words. They were fired. This was a very large firm.
He was essentially saying I really don't care enough to actually feel bad... Or maybe he really couldn't care but his pr said "well you can't really say that so just pretend"
Interesting, as I had just noticed earlier that Air India's two letter designator code is 'AI', the same as that much loved acronym for artificial intelligence...
At least this isn't as blatant as that "safety of our passengers & crew is our highest priority ' & " "abundance of caution" pablum that's spewed by the airlines' regarding their IROPS, diversions or mechanical incidents. Granted, there are daily multiples of these events worldwide versus catastrophic accidents, fortunately, so I really don't know how 'original' these communications can be. Maybe the important thing is at least the 'face time' from the top and especially the actual support/compassion being given to the survivors & next of kin....
Oh that poor ceo who makes millions off the backs of his employees some of whom just died but he shouldn't feel bad at all or make an effort to use his own words to jeopardize his salary. I suppose that's one way to win over your employees as long as they don't find out you have it no more than 3 minutes thought venaient that's the kind of ceo I want to work for.
Those are different transcripts than the ones in the videos. If you actually watch the videos you’d know. But nice use of AI….
Wow. Ben, you must see this - Air Canada CEO Rousseau read the same script a few days ago?? Are airline CEO’s bound by legality it seems: https://x.com/livefromalounge/status/2036796844312047752?s=46