Air India Chairman says crashed plane had ‘clean history’: Report

ISTANBUL

The chairman of Air India said Wednesday that the crashed Air India Flight 171 had a "clean history."

Speaking to Times Now of India, Natarajan Chandrasekaran said: "There are a lot of speculations and a lot of theories. But the fact that I know so far is this particular aircraft, AI-171, that particular tail, had a clean history."

"And the two engines, both engines, the right engine was a new engine put in March 2025. The left engine was last serviced in 2023 and was due next maintenance check in December 2025," he added.

Chandrasekaran also called the first officer and the flight's captain "great professionals" and "excellent pilots."

More than 11,500 hours were flown by Captain Sabarwal. He also noted that Clive, the first officer, had more over 3,400 hours of flight time.

On June 12, India witnessed a major aviation disaster after an Air India plane with 242 onboard crashed in western Gujarat state last week.

The crash killed over 270 people, including 241 aboard the ill-fated plane.

Subsequently, India ordered an inspection of Air India's Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet.