Latest news with #Gatwick-bound
India.com
an hour ago
- Business
- India.com
Who owns Air India planes? Government sold the airlines 3 years ago for Rs 18,000 crore
Who owns Air India planes? Government sold the airlines 3 years ago for Rs 18,000 crore Air India flights was back in discussion after on June 12, a London Gatwick-bound Boeing 787-8 aircraft crashed soon after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport, killing 241 people on board, and several others on the ground as it plunged into a medical college complex. A high-level multi-disciplinary committee, headed by the Union home secretary, will examine the causes that led to the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, and also suggest comprehensive guidelines to prevent such incidents in the future. Aviation watchdog DGCA also ordered enhanced safety inspection of Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet powered by GEnx engines, a day after 241 people onboard died in the plane crash in Ahmedabad. The enhanced DGCA inspection will include checks of various systems and a review of take-off parameters of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft of Air India Who is the owner of Air India? On one hand, when there has been a big accident in the country, on the other hand, there are discussions about the owner of Air India. The owner of Air India is TATA Group. Till a few years ago, the owner of Air India was the Government of India, that is, the government used to operate Air India, but 3 years ago, Tata bought it for Rs 18000 crore. Tata Sons has a 74.9 percent stake in the airline and the remaining 25.1 percent stake is with Singapore Airlines. Let us tell you that this airline was earlier owned by Tata under the name of Air India. Air India is the oldest and first airline company of the country, it was started in 1932 under the name of Tata Airlines. Air India's history with Tata? Tata Airlines made its first scheduled flight from Karachi to Bombay on October 15, 1932, with J.R.D. Tata himself as the pilot. Tata successfully persuaded the colonial government to allow the airline to carry mail from Karachi to Bombay. This marked the beginning of Air India. Over time, Air India expanded its services to include both domestic and international passenger flights. However, as soon as the Second World War began, all of Tata Airlines' aircraft were confiscated by the colonial government. After the war ended in 1946, J.R.D. Tata decided to turn Tata Airlines into a public company, renaming it Air India and offering 49 percent ownership to the government. Air India, founded in 1932, was owned by the Government of India from 1953 to 2022. After spending several years trying to sell it, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi found a buyer in the Tata Group. Tata, which lost control of Air India nearly seven decades ago, regained it in 2022.
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Business Standard
2 hours ago
- Business Standard
Govt sets up high-level panel to examine causes for Air India plane crash
The civil aviation ministry said the committee will not be a substitute to other enquiries being conducted by relevant organisations Press Trust of India New Delhi A high-level multi-disciplinary committee, headed by the Union home secretary, will examine the causes that led to the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, and also suggest comprehensive guidelines to prevent such incidents in the future. The civil aviation ministry said the committee will not be a substitute to other enquiries being conducted by relevant organisations. The panel "will focus on formulating SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) for preventing and handling such occurrences in the future, and will publish its report in three months, the ministry said. On June 12, a London Gatwick-bound Boeing 787-8 aircraft crashed soon after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport, killing 241 people on board, and several others on the ground as it plunged into a medical college complex. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is already probing the fatal crash. Chaired by Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, the panel has the civil aviation secretary and the additional secretary in the home ministry as members, according to an order dated June 13. Representatives from Gujarat home department, Gujarat disaster response authority, Ahmedabad police commissioner, Indian Air Force's director general of inspection and safety, director generals of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) are part of the committee. Other members include special director of the Intelligence Bureau and director of the Directorate of Forensic Science Services. According to the order, any other member, including aviation experts, accident investigators and legal advisors may be included in the committee. The panel will ascertain the root cause of the crash and assess the contributing factors, including mechanical failure, human error, weather conditions, regulatory compliances and other reasons. It will also recommend "necessary improvements and formulate suitable SOPs to prevent such incidents in the future. The SOPs would also include best international practices regarding preventing and handling such incidents, the order said. The panel will assess emergency response of various stakeholders, including rescue operations, and coordination. "The committee will examine the existing guidelines regarding handling such incidents, and go through the records of previous such aircraft crashes in the country," the aviation ministry said. Among other actions, the panel will formulate a comprehensive SOP and suggest the roles of all agencies and organisations of the Central and state governments to deal with post-crash incident handling and management. Also, the ministry said the committee will suggest policy changes, operational improvements and training enhancements required to prevent such occurrences and handle post-crash incident situations. According to the order, the panel will have access to all records, including, among others, flight data, cockpit voice recorders, aircraft maintenance records, ATC (Air Traffic Control) log and witness testimonies. The committee will also collaborate with international agencies if foreign nationals or aircraft manufacturers are involved. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Hindu
3 hours ago
- The Hindu
Air India plane disaster: Govt sets up high-level panel to examine causes for crash
A high-level multi-disciplinary committee, headed by the Union Home Secretary, will examine the causes that led to the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, and also suggest comprehensive guidelines to prevent such incidents in the future. Also Read | Grief-stricken kin give DNA samples to identify victims The Civil Aviation Ministry said the committee will not be a substitute for other enquiries being conducted by relevant organisations. The panel "will focus on formulating SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) for preventing and handling such occurrences in the future', and will publish its report in three months, the Ministry said. Editorial | Crash and burn: On the Air India Ahmedabad plane crash and Indian aviation On June 12, a London Gatwick-bound Boeing 787-8 aircraft crashed soon after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport, killing 241 people on board, and several others on the ground as it plunged into a medical college complex. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is already probing the fatal crash. Air India Ahmedabad plane crash LIVE updates Chaired by Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, the panel has the civil aviation secretary and the additional secretary in the home ministry as members, according to an order dated June 13. Representatives from Gujarat home department, Gujarat disaster response authority, Ahmedabad police commissioner, Indian Air Force's director general of inspection and safety, director generals of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) are part of the committee. Other members include special director of the Intelligence Bureau and director of the Directorate of Forensic Science Services. According to the order, any other member, including aviation experts, accident investigators and legal advisors may be included in the committee. The panel will ascertain the root cause of the crash and assess the contributing factors, including mechanical failure, human error, weather conditions, regulatory compliances and other reasons. It will also recommend "necessary improvements and formulate suitable SOPs to prevent such incidents in the future. The SOPs would also include best international practices regarding preventing and handling such incidents, the order said. The panel will assess emergency response of various stakeholders, including rescue operations, and coordination. "The committee will examine the existing guidelines regarding handling such incidents, and go through the records of previous such aircraft crashes in the country," the aviation ministry said. Among other actions, the panel will formulate a comprehensive SOP and suggest the roles of all agencies and organisations of the Central and state governments to deal with post-crash incident handling and management. Also, the ministry said the committee will suggest policy changes, operational improvements and training enhancements required to prevent such occurrences and handle post-crash incident situations. According to the order, the panel will have access to all records, including, among others, flight data, cockpit voice recorders, aircraft maintenance records, ATC (Air Traffic Control) log and witness testimonies. The committee will also collaborate with international agencies if foreign nationals or aircraft manufacturers are involved.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
What caused Air India Flight AI171 to crash? The key information we know so far
The Indian government is reportedly looking at a number of factors that may explain why Air India flight AI 171 crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad Airport on Thursday, killing all but one of its 242 passengers. The London Gatwick-bound plane - which was carrying 53 British passengers, 169 Indian nationals, seven Portuguese and one Canadian - crashed into a medical college and erupted in a huge fireball on Thursday. The sole survivor was Briton Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40. At least 24 more people on the ground died. One of two black boxes has reportedly been found in a bid to help piece together vital clues that could shed light on the cause of the accident. On Friday, it was reported that Air India and the Indian government were looking at several aspects of the crash, including issues with the jet's engine thrust, its flaps, and why its landing gear remained open. The government is also looking at whether Air India was at fault, including looking at maintenance issues, a source told Reuters. Experts have also raised questions about the plane's landing gear, which was down when it should have been up, as well as the wing flaps. Some have raised the possibility of a power failure or bird strike. Here, Yahoo News UK looks at what investigators are likely to be considering. The Reuters news agency has reported two police sources as saying one of two black boxes from the plane has been found. They did not say whether it was the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder that had been recovered. The black boxes, which are coloured orange to make them easier to find in the event of a crash, will be critical in establishing what happened. There are normally two recorders: a Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) for pilot voices or cockpit sounds, and a separate Flight Data Recorder (FDR). They are mandatory on civil flights, but their aim is not to determine any wrongdoing or fault - they are designed to preserve clues from cockpit sounds and data to help prevent future accidents. According to Reuters, investigators say the FDR helps them analyse what happened, and the CVR can start to explain why, though no two investigations are the same. According to Airbus: "Flight recorders store data (aircraft parameters) and sound (pilot, copilot, radio communications and the cockpit ambient noise). The recording device is crash-protected up to a certain level. It is resistant to fire, explosion, impact and water immersion." Video of the plane before the crash has shown its landing gear was down. Usually, this folds back into the aircraft immediately after it becomes airborne. Former British Airways pilot Alastair Rosenschein told Sky News: "It's clearly got its [landing] gear down and that is not correct... it should have been up." Watch: Moment Air India flight crashes after take-off He added: "I cannot understand why the [landing] gear would have been down... [and] left down. That would suggest, perhaps, a hydraulic problem because it's hydraulics that raise the gear." However, he made clear this was speculation. US aerospace safety consultant Anthony Brickhouse also said of the landing gear being down: "If you didn't know what was happening, you would think that plane was on approach to a runway." Steve Scheibner, an American Airlines pilot, also suggested there were abnormalities with the plane's wing flaps and linked this to the landing gear being down. Pilot Sumeet Sabharwal and his co-pilot Clive Kundar cried 'mayday' as the plane lost altitude, saying the engine was 'losing power'. According to reports, Sabharwal, who had more than 8,000 hours of flying experience, said he had 'no thrust' and was 'unable to lift'. And the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources, that an investigation into the crash was focusing on "whether the aircraft had a loss or reduction in engine thrust". Dr Jason Knight, a senior lecturer in fluid mechanics at the University of Portsmouth, told The Telegraph: 'It appears from the video there is a cloud of dust just after take-off. 'I'm not sure, but it appears as though the cloud of dust could be from the engines as they both fail.' A twin-engine failure is extremely rare. The BBC reported experts familiar with Ahmedabad Airport as saying it is "notorious for birds", which can cause engine failures. Dr Knight also said "the most likely [reason] is a bird strike in both engines". But Scheibner said he didn't think a bird strike is a "likely theory". "We don't see any birds in the picture. It would have to be a lot of birds to foul out both engines and we don't see any indications coming out of the back of the engine that that happened: you'd see flames, you'd see sparks." Who were the British victims of the Air India plane crash? (The Guardian) Heartbreaking final selfie of doctor's young family starting a new life in Britain (The Telegraph) 'She was a ray of sunshine': First British victims of Air India plane crash named after 241 killed (The Independent)
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Temple vigil held for India plane crash victims
Prayers were held at a Hindu temple in Lancashire for those who lost their lives in the Air India crash in Ahmedabad. The London Gatwick-bound flight crashed soon after take-off from the city's airport in the western state of Gujarat at about 09:00 BST on Thursday, killing 242 people on board. One person - a British man - survived. Crowds gathered at the Gujarat Hindu Society Temple in Preston on Friday to pray for those who had died and their loved ones. Temple president Ishwer Tailor said he hoped the vigil would give people some "consolation". Mr Tailor said Preston has a large Gujarati community and admitted he wanted to do something sooner than the weekend "with people being in shock". "It is a catastrophe not just for people who have passed away but also for India," he said. "We have had several people coming up to us and telling stories of some of their friends and relatives who have perished in this terrible accident and the stories keep coming." He said the temple doors would remain open for all communities. "Whole families have been destroyed. All we can do in this moment in time is pray and make sure we remember them in our prayers," he said. There were 53 Britons on board the flight, along with 169 Indian nationals, seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian. One couple who died in the crash - 72-year-old Adam Taju and his wife Hasina, 70 - were described as the "foundation of our family" by their granddaughters, from Blackburn, Lancashire. Additional reporting by Anna Jameson and Nishma Hindocha Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230. Minister says black box found at Air India crash site as grieving families await answers 'Traffic saved me': Student missed Air India crash by just 10 minutes 'I walked out of rubble': Survivor on how he escaped Air India wreckage What we know so far after Air India flight to London crashes in Ahmedabad Gujarat Hindu Society
