Tata Sons Chairman Urges Air India Employees to Resilience After Tragic Crash, ET Infra
Advt
Advt
MUMBAI: Tata Sons and Air India Chairman N Chandrasekaran on Monday urged Air India employees to stay on course in the wake of the airline's plane crash in Ahmedabad last week, terming the accident the most "heartbreaking" crisis of his career, according to sources.Addressing close to 700 employees and the leadership team across the Air India headquarters and Air India Training Academy in Gurugram, Chandrasekaran said the employees need to show resilience and use this incident as an act of force to build a "safer airline"."We have to make sure that we stay the course. Be more determined in everything we do. We need to wait for the investigation to find out," the sources quoted Chandrasekaran as saying."I've seen a reasonable number of crises in my career, but this is the most heartbreaking one which I never thought I would see," Chandrasekaran said, as per the sources.Over 270 people were killed on June 12 when a London-bound Air India plane -- a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner -- carrying 242 passengers and crew crashed into a medical college complex in Ahmedabad less than a minute after takeoff.The aircraft took off at 1:39 pm and within a few seconds, after reaching a height of about 650 feet, it started sinking. At 1:39 pm, the pilot informed Ahmedabad ATC that it was a May Day, a code word used for full emergency.When the ATC tried to contact Air India aircraft, it did not receive any response. Exactly one minute later, the plane crashed in Meghaninagar, about 2 km from the airport, Civil Aviation Secretary Samir Kumar Sinha had informed during a media briefing on Saturday.According to him, the aircraft started losing its height after reaching 650 feet.Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which comes under the Civil Aviation Ministry, is probing the accident.On Sunday, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu announced the setting up of a panel to investigate the causes of the accident.According to sources, at the Air India headquarters, Chandrasekaran visited the emergency command centre; the integrated operations command centre and the customer service and support."Whatever I say and whatever we do is not going to bring the lives back. Those affected, they're going to feel the pain for a very long time. But having said that, we have got to do our very best humanly possible to help each of them," he said in his address to the employees.Stating that the airline is getting more determined, after the crash, he said, "It's not the time to talk about what we will do, but I want to say that we will consider all the people who lost someone as our family forever."Urging the employees to be "strong," he said. "We need to show resilience. We need to use this incident as an act of force to build a safer airline.""So we have to make sure that we stay the course. Be more determined in everything we do. We need to wait for the investigation to find out (the cause)," the Tata Sons chief said.Chandrasekaran said that (aviation) business is a very complex one and the aircraft (itself) is a complex machine, "so (there are) a lot of redundancies, checks and balances, certifications, which have been perfected over years and years'¦Yet this happens, so we will figure out why it happens after the investigation."He said that everyone's job at Air India is to get the airline "into a better place, the place it deserves, the place this country deserves, the place where all the people who have trust in us deserve."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Indian Express
an hour ago
- New Indian Express
Air India pays moving tribute to Dreamliner crew with heartfelt collage
NEW DELHI: Eight women were among the 12 Air India crew members who lost their lives alongside 229 passengers in the ill-fated Dreamliner that crashed on 12 June in Ahmedabad. The diverse female crew, drawn from across the country, represented a blend of youth and experience, ranging in age from 22 to 44 years. A tribute to all its loved ones, featuring a classy collage, was released on Air India's internal crew page and later posted by aviation expert Sanjay Lazar on X on Sunday. An Air India source confirmed that it had been shared widely within their internal groups. Eight of the deceased crew members hailed from Maharashtra. 'In the darkest moments, our global airline family comes together, not by uniform, language, or nationality, but by something far greater: We are, and always will be, United By Wings,' read the tribute on the India Plane Crash Three of the deceased were just 22 years old, the youngest among the crew. Maithili Moreshwar Patil, a native of Nhava village in Maharashtra, was 'a proud first-generation flight attendant supporting her family.' She had joined Air India two years ago. Kongbrailatpam Nganthoi Sharma, from Thoubal in Manipur, joined the airline in April 2023. 'She will be remembered for her bright spirit and dedication,' read the lines written in her memory. Also 22 years old was Irfan Shaikh, one of the two male flight attendants on board. A native of Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune, he began his career two years ago. He was remembered as 'being ambitious and kind.' Slightly older was new recruit Lamnunthem Singson from Manipur. The 24-year-old was 'full of hope and energy,' according to the tribute.
NDTV
an hour ago
- NDTV
What Pilot Of Delhi-Bound Air India Flight Said Before U-Turn To Hong Kong
A Hong Kong-Delhi Air India flight made a U-turn as a precautionary measure on Monday after nearly an hour of take-off. The captain of Flight AI315 suspected a technical issue and requested to land back at the Hong Kong International Airport. An audio of the conversation between the pilot and the Air Traffic Control (ATC) was posted on the traffic control monitoring website The pilot told the ATC that "for technical reasons, sir, we would like to stay closer to Hong Kong, maybe we will come back to Hong Kong and sort out the problem," according to the audio clip. "We don't want to continue further," the pilot is heard saying in the same audio clip. ???????????????????????????????? Air India 315 requested to stay closer to Hong Kong citing technical reasons before deciding to return to HKIA. "We don't want to continue further". ???? via ????️ via @flightradar24 — Aaron Busch (@tripperhead) June 16, 2025 The AI315 took off from Hong Kong at about 12:20 pm, reached a height of 22,000 feet, and then began to drop, as per AirNav Radar. The aircraft, a Boeing Dreamliner 787-8, returned to Hong Kong International Airport after requesting local standby at 1 pm (0500 GMT) and "landed safely at around 1:15 pm", according to Reuters. "AI315 operating from Hong Kong to Delhi on 16 June 2025 air-returned to Hong Kong shortly after take-off due to a technical issue. The flight landed safely in Hong Kong and is undergoing checks as a matter of abundant precaution," Air India said in a statement. Alternative arrangements have been planned to fly the passengers to their destination, Delhi, at the earliest, the airline added. "We are providing all necessary on-ground assistance to the passengers to minimise the inconvenience caused by this unforeseen disruption," it added. The Delhi-bound Air India flight's U-turn came days after another Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 aircraft, carrying 242 people, crashed onto the doctors' hostel of a medical college in Ahmedabad. At least 274 people, including 241 of the 242 on board the London-bound flight were killed in what was the deadliest aviation disaster in India's history. The Government of India has constituted a panel to probe the crash. The committee, with senior officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), and independent aviation safety experts, will investigate possible technical failures, maintenance records, and crew actions in the lead-up to the incident.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Air India plane crash: Fauna near BJ Medical College, cared for by doctors & staff, falls silent
The crash site at BJ Medical College , surrounded by lush greens on three sides, was not only home to junior resident doctors but also to a vibrant ecosystem of at least 30 peacocks, 20 dogs, and several species of birds and cows. In the days since the crash, this once-lively campus has fallen eerily silent. According to sources, the remains of at least four peacocks, five dogs, and more than 50 birds have been found in the past five days. A watchman posted at the college told ET that the days leading up to the monsoon were blissful. The cries of peacocks would echo across the campus, and the green expanse bustled with life. "Now, you can only hear a couple of them," he said. Resident doctors and the mess staff who regularly fed the stray dogs either perished in the crash or have abandoned the college premises since the tragedy. The surviving animals now wander the site, unfed and thirsty. On Sunday afternoon, reporters standing outside the barricaded area of the crash site heard a dog howling for more than 15 minutes. Live Events "Our NGO, along with other NGOs, got multiple calls. Over the past five days, we've recovered several remains from the site. It has been difficult," said the founder of a local NGO sharing the ground reality. "We have to carefully move through the debris to pick up what's left. Sometimes, it's hard to tell if it is animal remains or something else. "It's not easy, but we have to do it," he said, adding that volunteers had cremated over 50 birds and five dogs charred at the site. The task has been particularly sensitive as body parts of some of the crash victims are still being recovered from the area. The Centre for Nurture and Care of Dogs (CNCD) has been deployed to keep carnivorous animals away from the site to prevent further contamination and to manage the risk of animals scavenging on human remains. Sources confirmed that several dogs were killed when the London-bound Air India flight crashed into the medical college hostel last Thursday, adding that at least one peacock also perished in the crash. "We have handed over the body of the peacock to the forest department, as it is a Schedule One protected bird," said Naresh Rajput, who serve as head of the cattle nuisance control department (CNCD) of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and is also involved in the rescue and clearance operations. Even as the crash site remains under close watch, the loss of both human and animal life continues to haunt those working on the ground.
