Air India Crash: What the Montreal Convention means for grieving families and victims

Mint

5 hours ago

Air India Crash: A Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, operating as AI 171 and bound for London's Gatwick Airport, tragically crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12, striking a medical college and erupting into a fireball of death and devastation. The flight was carrying 242 people, including 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals, and one Canadian national. Of those on board, 241 perished; only one British national of Indian origin survived.
While Tata Sons, the parent company of Air India, announced ₹ 1 crore as compensation for families of the deceased and the lone survivor of the deadly crash, the final compensation will depend on the Montreal Convention treaty.
The Montreal Convention, formally called the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, is a multilateral treaty adopted on May 8, 1999, in Montreal, Canada, by the member states of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). India joined as the 91st member in 2009.
The Montreal Convention is applicable only to international flights between countries that are parties to the treaty. If an airline is found to be negligent for an accident, the Montreal Convention holds it liable for damages, including passenger deaths or injury to passengers, delay, damage or loss of baggage and cargo as well.
Chapter III of the Montreal Convention is titled 'Liability of the Carrier and Extent of Compensation for Damage.' According to the convention, the compensation is determined and applied when the airline is liable for the damage. As of December 2024, it stood at approximately $211,000 in the case of death or bodily injury of a passenger.
Jim Brauchle, former US Air Force Navigator and Aviation Attorney at Motley Rice, told Livemint, 'the airline is strictly liable for the $200,000 in damages suffered by each passenger' under the Montreal Convention.
Jim added, 'To recover beyond that amount, Air India will have to prove that it and its employees were not negligent in any way in causing the crash. The Montreal Convention only applies to Air India as the operator of the flight and not to any of the manufacturers.'
The treaty also specifies nearly $8,778 for each passenger in case of damage caused by delay in the carriage of persons. For destruction, loss, damage, or delay related to baggage, the limit per passenger is about $2,115. In the case of cargo, the liability limit has increased to around $36.21 per kilogram.
The aviation attorney further stated he was not surprised by the incident of the 787 Dreamliner crashing, citing 'some issues and previous incidents".
'Usually engine failures or control surface malfunctions' are the most likely technical crashes that could lead to a crash just seconds after takeoff, he said, also pointing out flaps up and gear down as seen in the video.
'Observing the video of the airplane right before the crash, it appears that the flaps are up, and the gear is down. On take off, the gear is typically raised prior to retraction of the flaps. This is an odd configuration indicative of a potential mechanical or crew failure,' he mentioned.
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered Air India to perform enhanced checks on all of its Boeing 787-8/9 fleet starting June 15, 2025, amid the probe panel set up by the Ministry of Civil Aviation on June 13 to evaluate the circumstances leading to the crash and assess existing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and safety guidelines currently in place.
According to the HT report, at least 22 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft in the Indian fleet were inspected after the tragic incident last week.
'Checks on 22 787s have been completed, and nothing alarming was found during the surveillance. The inspection on the remaining B787 may be completed by Monday," the report quoted one of the officials as saying.
On June 14 evening, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said the company will make an interim payment of ₹ 25 lakh to each of the deceased's families and the survivor, besides ₹ 1 crore already announced by Tata Sons.
'To provide immediate financial support, Air India will be making an interim payment of ₹ 25 lakh, or approximately £21,000, to each of the families of the deceased and also to the survivor. This is in addition to the ₹ 1 crore, or approximately £85,000, already committed by Tata Sons,' Wilson said.