Today, we’re seeing absolutely horrifying scenes out of Ahmedabad, as a London-bound Air Boeing 787 crashed shortly after takeoff, with 242 people onboard. While a minor detail in the scheme of things, I think it’s interesting to note a reason that another Air India Boeing 787-8 diverted this afternoon.
Continue reading: Air India Jet With CEO Onboard Diverts To Delhi, Following Crash
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
In a time of such heartbreaking crisis, it’s completely understandable—and reassuring—to see the Chief return to the ground. Leadership and presence truly matter now more than ever.
I thought Ahmedabad sounds like a place in Afghanistan initialy but it’s in Gujurat an Indian state. Terrible. What the heck.
In the light of this tragedy, those diverted can only think , there but for the grace of god, go I. Praying for everyone.
He had to divert and get back to India pronto, to avoid accusations of another CEO having fun in Paris while a crisis happens back home.
This is true- sometimes the optics matter almost as much as anything else that a well-run business does to address a crisis. You need to look like you know what's going on and genuinely care about doing right by your customers.
Instead of chuckling and ridiculing me because I was unfamiliar with the Milwaukee of India ;
How about your people do a better job with maintenance or abort takeoff when the plane tells you there is an issue ?
This was absolutely the right call. This isn't just a PR/optics issue, a crash is one of those situations where you can plan for it but there is still A LOT that you just have to figure out in the moment, and you need the authority the do what you need to do, and having the ultimate decision maker of the company completely out of communications during it makes it a huge challenge. This is even more true when it's possible there are survivors and time counts, so quick decisions are essential, they can't be waiting around for someone to figure out who is in charge to okay whatever needs to be done.
First off, it's "tell me you're American..." Not your. A supposedly educated person who corrects others should know that.
Secondly, how much do you know about the geography of the Americas? You probably think that the USA consists of New York, Florida, California and maybe Chicago in the middle. And that you can drive to them all within a few days.
As if someone not from South Asia would know where Ahmedabad was. Smug jerk.
In stead of acting like a load of children who are throwing their toys out of their prams at each other …. show some dignity.
Show some respect for the human beings who have lost their lives.
Show compassion for the friends and families who are suffering a great loss as a result of this tragedy.
Simply grow up!
I've been to 49 countries, including India, so I am by no means the typical American when it comes to international ignorance, and I too thought the same thing, so you aren't alone here.
Unless overweight, should have landed on Ahmedabad, which was near where they turned around.
I heard of Ahmedabad, heard of Gujurat, know that Modi is from there, but didn't know that Ahmedabad is in Gujurat. Is Milwaukee in Minnesota, hahaha? Gurjurat is poor and in or near where India tested nuclear weapons.
Why return to Delhi he can Land nearby airport then Plane can Continue it's Trajectory without Panic
The pilots should have announced the reason they were turning around on the PA. If you’re going to screw up the arrangements for hundreds of people for a single person then those people deserve to know why.
The last airline CEO heading to Paris during a crisis ended up having Champagne and enjoyed Paris leaving the whole airline to meltdown while blaming others for the problem.
The fallout lasted for weeks while their competitors recovered in days.
Fluffy would disagree with facts using irrelevant FAA stats.
242 people died + countless more on ground, the statement, “screw up arrangements…for a single person” does a lot of disservice to the situation at play
When I heard this report on the news, my initial thought was of the Pakistani city - but I quickly recalled that Pakistani airspace is closed to India. And it's an AI flight on departure, so clearly in India. My guess was correct as to which part of India it's in - but I'm a geography geek who has also traveled a lot (5 continents - though not to India). Ridiculous to poke fun at someone if they don't know of this city. There are many large cities around the world that are not household names, internationally.
Because DEL is a hub and the flight was only an hour in. I think you should account for the logistic challenge of landing in a hub and a non hub and the implications it has on even switching the crew
I think this is reasonable, but I would expect the airline to provide some sort of compensation for the affected passengers.
I know Gujarat. GT were IPL champions currently it is RCB. I know India and Pakistan have history so without checking the internet or clicking on the story it was a reasonable guess. I’m sorry . Today is a sad day.
I’ve got to disagree, even using Ben‘s conservative calculations you’re costing 200+ people approximately 1200 to 1300 man hours of delay. All this so some pathetic talking suit can get back 16 to 20 hours earlier and run PR for his failing company. It’s not like he’s a first responder and can actually help victims. If only they put so much effort into running a decent airline.
The way you came up with that 1200-1300 hours delay is the most hilariously stupid thing I have seen today
Reply to AeroB13a; to SA, who decided to make an ad hoc attack on an innocent post.
Honestly is free. At a minimum the passengers deserved to know why the flight was returning rather than being lied to.
I had American almost destroy a well planned family vacation to Asia last month though bad recovery when they changed things. It cost me a great deal of money and stress to repair their damage and salvage our trip. I imagine some passengers on the AI flight were in a similar circumstance. A better solution would have been for the flight to drop off the CEO then continue to Paris. The CEO could have arranged some transport back easily enough.
Well firstly it'll be a flight home on BA, as the other AI Dreamliners will be grounded.
Not just about PR but also about showing your employees you care. A lot of employees are probably pretty shaken right now and it can help morale to know leadership and employees have the same priorities
(Also mildly impressed that Air India's CEO actually flies the airline but that's not a conversation for now)
He could not be landed at Mumbai which was near the location where they turned around ?
He could have gone back - the rest could have gone on
Typical goof up
It could have been a coincidence, but it's been reported an Air India flight, which was due to leave on Thursday night from London Gatwick to Goa, has been cancelled after the airline’s earlier crash in India.
So you turn around, land, drop off 1 passenger and then line up to take off again....in an identical plane that fell out of the sky 2 hours before without knowing why? Genius.
Air India is India,s worst Airliner I flew last year from Amsterdam to Delhi and can say that ,me as a frequent flyer,never before had such bad experiences by airtravellings.Its time for India to do something against this Fake company.I flew with also a Dreamliner were many issues were.Mulitimediaot working at all,Crew unpolite ECT I will never fly this Airline again.A shame for India Why Indians are going a brought for Jobs but hiring foreigners for Air India and Indigo?Are Indians only thinking about making Money and don't care about their country?I met in my time in India a lot of CHEATERS and liers.Nakibg Baby's and Cheating world champion,or?
Why would it be a coincidence when the aircraft supposed to operate London Gatwick to Goa is the one that crashed?
Given the lack of a reason for the accident - common at this point after the event - and the geopolitical issues in that part of the world, yes, it made all kinds of sense not just for that aircraft to remain in India but for other operations to be pulled back
290+ people died, the least of the worry for Air India should be 250 alive people’s plans for the day!!
You are way too selfish!
Also imagine announcing you are turning around because your other flight crashed, the fear and panic it will create in the flight is bad. Saying just operational reasons is honest too. There is a thing called ERO or ERP, that was activated by the airline, it is what airlines do to react during emergencies. This very much is operational reasons
and ended up beating all of its US competitors in financial performance that quarter - which are filed w/ the SEC - and operational statistics for all of 2024 which are filed w/ the DOT.
and the lawsuit is moving forward and the SEC and DOJ are investigating the company that is accused of causing said meltdown.
So, we have a bunch of .gov agencies involved but let us know to which FAA statistics you refer
Although I don't disagree with the decision to turn back, I wonder if that decision says something about the CEO's level of confidence in the airline's COO.
They were almost over Ahmedabad when they turned around. Why not land there and offload him and continue to Paris?
@Tim Dumdum - My immediate assumption, upon hearing cancellation announcement, is that VT-ANB (the accident aircraft) would have been the same one operating Thursday evening's LGW-GOX flight =/
Regarding lack of wifi on this plane this was air india's post earlier this year:
Starting 1 January 2025, in-flight Wi-Fi services available on all flights operated by Air India’s A350, B787-9 and select A321neo aircraft.
Pretty easy solution...
1. The CEO needed to return. So turn the plane around. OTOH- This is not the fault/responsibility. They need to be compensated.
2. Have a relief crew waiting on the ground to replace the other crew. (I assumed they timed out.) Recater the flight.
3. Once landed, while taxing, inform passengers what happened. Deplane with food/drink vouchers.
4. Offer passengers the opportunity to not fly and fly at a later date at no additional cost.
5. All passengers receive a full refund of the cost of their flight + $500 flight credit.
6. Take off again 1-2 hours later with a fully catered plane. Free booze and upgraded food.
Terrible situation, but logistically, net net, it would be a 4-6 delay in landing at the destination.
@John - AI171 AMD-LGW crashed so soon after takeoff that AMD rightly halted all subsequent flight operations (departing flights grounded; arriving flights diverted)
That’s the thing with math. It doesn’t have feelings or emotions. It’s pretty straightforward.
You on the other hand seem all riled up.
Thank goodness this was not an AA flight.
The FA’s would be fighting amongst themselves, abusive towards the passengers and refusing to serve a second round of refreshments.
There would be no ground hospitality, comprehensive onwards travel arrangements and definitely no compensation.
Your peasant mind thinks it’s OK for the plane to divert?
Just because the CEO was on board.
The rich & powerful march to their own beat.
Screw the poor middle class Indians pax on board.
AI. should not have recalled the CEO to return to HQ / AMD considering other factors of other Co-Passengers being CRITICAL OF INCONVENIENCE, Other Legal Costs, criticisms in media...Qs. in Paris by the media ?
IS THERE NO OTHER TECHNICALLY COMPETENT PERSON A COMMANDER OR ENGINEER WHO CAN MORE RESPONSIBLY & TECHNICALLY ANSWER THE FAMILIES & MEDIA ...rather than the Media speculating of commentaries!
The CEO too would be briefed by our Competent Ones & avoid speculation theories propounded by some...till the Black box reveals the Facts...!
The flight was perfectly capable of operating. Therefore under no circumstances was the flight changed for operational reasons.
Air India is the airline that chose to reroute the flight despite there being zero operational reason to do so. As long as the passengers were satisfactorily re accommodated and/or compensated then nonetheless arguably AI did the right thing.
Sorry that AA's voluntary choices that almost destroyed my family vacation to Bali, cost me vast stress and thousands of dollars to fix - and would have cost tens of thousands of dollars if I hadn't addressed the problem myself - doesn't meet with your approval.
Moronic statement . Just thinking of compensation, and f- everyone else. People died, but me me me $$$$
That’s the thing with stupidity, you are up your a** so much that you don’t see the stupidity
Christian operation reasons as an excuse can be justified in cases where ERO/ERF is activated, which is rightly done here. Point is as long as pax are compensated, as you say, for this situation, this should not be any point of contention
This crash is already a PR disaster for AI, and the last thing they need is more headlines about how the CEO is living it up at the Paris airshow while the company is dealing with a huge disaster. Lighten up on the Communist Party rhetoric - not everything is about the ruling classes lording it over glorious proletariat.
An AA flight would never have gotten off the ground. They'd still be arguing with passengers about the placement of their gigantically oversized crew bags in overhead lockers meant for the paying customers.
No, stopping operations would be freaking ridiculous and completely disproportionate. You can't stop country's largest airline's operations and basically put life on hold because of one plane crash, especially since there's no indication it's not a "routine" crash with no foul play involved.
the aircraft in question was a Boeing 787-8
the Boeing 787-9s that have Wifi equipped are presumably ex-Vistara aircrafts?
Very sensible ideas.... If not already, might I suggest pursuing a ' rewarding ' career in airline management ? The industry needs rational, competent & compassionate talent !
Although it would be expected to respond to this specific diversion resulting from the previous tragedy, I would hope posters would show some restraint from using this incident to launch into a litany of complaints & grudges against AI. One could show a little respect and save these opinions for numerous past/future posts.
I don't mean to imply censorship, just maybe a bit more courtesy.
RIP to all pax, crew & collateral victims, my condolences to their next of kin.
Here, here !
Although the best part of this blog is the ' back n' forth ' of the comment section, I would have hoped for a little more compassion/respect for all involved in this tragedy as it relates to these specific posts.
Although I would never propose censorship, I just would have expected more sensitivity,
and this is from a typically cynical, snarky smart arse.....,,,
AI has a dual hub model, DEL and BOM. The point where the flight turned around over Indian airspace is closer to the latter than the former. BOM is also the location of Tata Sons HQ.
Therefore it's intriguing why the flight turned around, instead of going to BOM, where the CEO could have dealt with the issue as he and the management wanted him to.
Undoubtedly there's an explanation, but at this stage it's intriguing.
The COO of Air India is a highly respected SIA pilot who is on secondment, formerly a SVP at Vistara. Every C-suite individual has defined roles during a crisis response, it's not just as simple as delegating the task to a subordinate. The CEO needs to be front and center as soon as possible, as the accountable manager to the authority.
When SQ6 crashed in Taipei, the SIA CEO was in New Zealand for a meeting. He was airborne within a few hours of the accident in order to lead the response to the accident.
Don’t agree with the diversion but this was certainly more warranted than diverting for a sick dog.
Probably because in the off chance they end up cancelling the flight, the logistic of handling and accommodating all the pax and crew (who are most likely based in DEL) in point of origin is much easier than stranding them in Mumbai. I don’t know how such basics things are going over people head
Diversion was likely due to the airspace closure over Iraq and neighbouring middle eastern airspace. The routing already diverts from it’s normal course because of Pakistan airspace closure, this sudden airspace closure after getting airborne would not leave it with enough fuel to complete the flight. Several flights were diverted that day.
@stogieguy7 100% for example London a simple google search reveals that there are many places called London. I knew of 3 but now I see that there are 3 cities in the US alone called London, 1 city in Canada, and there are many more villages, districts and more called London.
If you hear in media that something has happened in London Ontario, how many people would miss the part that its the Canadian London not the UK?
I really don’t see a problem with this. It’s a unique situation and it was a warranted stop. I’m sure if you asked the passengers on that flight, given the situation, they would understand.
This is a one-off tragedy with a type which had never crashed so far and with an airline known for... mediocrity, being nice. There may emerge reasons to close the airline but absolutely none to ban the 787-8.
I don’t have a dog in this fight but, if you delay 200 people by 6 hours… well that does indeed come out to 1200 man hours. The math is solid, Eve.