Air India plane crash report: Airline issues new statement

Air India says it will continue to fully cooperate with all authorities as the investigation into the crash of AI171 continues.

“Air India stands in solidarity with the families and those affected by the AI171 accident. We continue to mourn the loss and are fully committed to providing support during this difficult time,” the airline said.

“We acknowledge receipt of the preliminary report released by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) today, July 12, 2025,” the airline added.

It further said that given the active nature of the investigation, it won’t be commenting on specific details, referring all such enquiries to the AAIB.

Fuel control switches to the engines of flight AI171 that crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 260 people, were moved from the "run" to the "cutoff" position moments before impact, the preliminary investigation report said.

It’s important to note that the report, issued by AAIB, did not offer any conclusions or apportion blame for the disaster, but indicated that one pilot asked the other why he cut off fuel, and the second pilot responded that he had not.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was headed from Ahmedabad to London when it crashed, killing all but one of the 242 people on board as well as 19 people on the ground.

In its 15-page report, the investigation bureau said that once the aircraft achieved its top recorded speed, "the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 01 sec".

"In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so," it said.

The aircraft quickly began to lose altitude.

The switches then returned to the "RUN" position and the engines appeared to be gathering power, but "one of the pilots transmitted 'MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY'", the report said.

Air traffic controllers asked the pilots what was wrong, but then saw the plane crashing and called emergency personnel to the scene.

Between takeoff and the crash, only about 30 seconds had passed.

“We now know — with some degree of confidence — that both engines rolled back because these fuel switches were activated,” said Jeff Guzzetti, a former accident investigation chief for the US Federal Aviation Administration. “We just don’t know why or how these switches were activated and that’s going to be a big part of this investigation.”

“At this stage of investigation, there are no recommended actions to B787-8 and/or GE GEnx-1B engine operators and manufacturers,” according to the AAIB report.

The report also highlighted an FAA airworthiness bulletin from 2018 that said that fuel control switches on Boeing planes including the 737 and the 787 could inadvertently move from run to cutoff without their locking mechanism engaging. The Air India jet was not inspected for the locking mechanism fault as it was never mandatory.

With inputs from AFP and Bloomberg