Air India Boeing 787 Crashes After Takeoff, Killing At Least 290 People

It’s a tragic day for aviation, as an Air India Boeing 787 has crashed, representing the first-ever crash for the Dreamliner, since it first entered service nearly 15 years ago.

Air India Ahmedabad to London flight crashes after takeoff

This incident happened today (June 12, 2025), and involves Air India flight AI171, scheduled to operate the 4,262-mile flight from Ahmedabad (AMD) to London Gatwick (LGW). The flight was operated by an 11-year-old Boeing 787-8 with the registration code VT-ANB. This 787-8 had 256 seats, including 18 business class seats and 238 economy class seats, so the flight was roughly 90% full.

According to India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the jet crashed immediately after takeoff, with 242 people on board, including two pilots and 10 flight attendants. We know that there were at least 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese nationals, and one Canadian national.

The aircraft took off at 1:39PM local time, from runway 23. The pilots gave a “mayday” call after takeoff to air traffic control, but there was no response after that. Flight tracking data suggests that the plane’s last signal was transmitted less than a minute after takeoff, as the plane climbed through 625 feet.

The aircraft crashed just outside the airport perimeter, into the housing at a medical college, which makes this whole situation even more tragic. In video footage posted online, heavy black smoke can be seen coming from the accident site.

While the exact number of casualties isn’t yet known, it has been confirmed that there have been at least 290 deaths, including all but one passenger onboard, and dozens of people on the ground. Unfortunately that death toll will likely grow even higher, as rescue efforts continue.

Obviously this is a horrible tragedy, and my thoughts are with all those onboard and their families, as well as those on the ground at the accident site.

One small piece of good news is that there was one survivor on the flight, who had relatively minor injuries, when you consider what happened. He was seated in seat 11A, the window seat in the first row of economy, right by the exit. I can’t even imagine the mixed emotions he’s feeling right now.

What we know about the cause of this Air India accident

It’s way too soon to know what caused this accident, and it’ll take some time for investigators to do their work. Let’s cover what we do know, without speculating.

Video footage of the plane taking off and just after takeoff has been released, from a couple of different angles. It shows the heavy jet struggling to gain altitude. You’ll notice that the gear is fully deployed, when ordinarily that would start to be retracted once there’s a positive rate of climb, though that clearly wasn’t the case here.

I’d say the most telling observation to date is that it appears that the ram air turbine (RAT), located underneath the fuselage, is deployed as the plane climbs out. This deploys automatically in certain situations, including when there’s a full loss of power.

If there was in fact a full loss of power, that’s a serious problem at such a low altitude. There are any of a number of different possible explanations for that, and eventually we should learn more.

Information about the pilots has already been released, and the captain had 8,200 flight hours, while the first officer had 1,100 flight hours. So the captain was at least quite experienced.

This is the first hull loss for a Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Aviation is incredibly safe, and it’s extremely rare to see fatal accidents. India has had a fantastic safety record in recent years, despite the pace at which aviation in the country has grown (meaning the aviation workforce in the country is largely quite “junior”).

Notably, this is the first-ever hull loss for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, since it entered commercial service in 2011. For that matter, up until today, the plane had no fatal accident of any sort. This is also the first wide body passenger jet crash that we’ve seen in many years.

There are currently over 1,100 787s in service, and Air India has a total of 26 787-8s (along with seven of the larger 787-9 variant, acquired through Vistara).

Following this incident, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson has issued the following video message (interestingly, he was on a flight at the time of the accident, which diverted so that he could get on the ground ASAP).

Bottom line

An Air India Boeing 787 has crashed today, with 242 people onboard. The plane was flying from Ahmedabad to London, and crashed just moments after takeoff, as it seemingly struggled to gain altitude.

What a massive tragedy, and sad day for aviation. This is the first-ever hull loss for the 787, and the first wide body passenger jet crash in many years. My thoughts are with everyone involved. It’s just heart-wrenching, especially with confirmation that there are at least 290 casualties, including all but one passenger, plus dozens of people on the ground.

What do you make of this Air India Boeing 787 crash?