Air India boss hits back at 'speculation' over reason behind fatal crash as he gives major update on plane

The chairman of Air India has slammed the 'speculation' surrounding the circumstances of the deadly crash while sharing his own update on the investigation.

N Chandrasekaran, 62, has insisted that both engines on the doomed Boeing aircraft had 'clean' histories and claimed that the aircraft had 'recently been serviced'.

The airline boss has spoken out about the state of the Air India jet amid the ongoing investigation into the tragedy which took place last Thursday (12 June).

Seven days ago, Flight AI171 left the city of Ahmedabad in western India at 1.38pm local time to head to London Gatwick, but horror struck shortly after take off.

The plane lost signal and issued a mayday call within a minute of taking to the air, climbing to just 625 feet before crashing into a hostel for doctors and medical students.

Only one person onboard the Air India plane - British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who was in seat 11A - survived the deadly crash.

The horror crash which killed 241 people who were onboard took place seven days ago (Siddharaj Solanki/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Preliminary findings had suggested that there may have been an issue with the engines, triggering the air disaster - but Chandrasekaran has now claimed they were in good condition.

In an interview with Indian news channel Times Now, the businessman said: "The right engine was a new engine put in March 2025.

"The left engine was last serviced in 2023 and due for its next maintenance check in December 2025."

Crash investigators are now examining the debris, decoding recorded flight data and assessing cockpit audio to help piece together what happened in the final moments before the crash.

Chandrasekaran said the information from the plane's black boxes would 'definitely tell the story' while urging people not to peddle theories amid the ongoing probe.

N Chandrasekaran, pictured in 2022, said the Boeing had 'recently been serviced' (Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

"There are a lot of speculations and a lot of theories," he continued. "But the fact that I know so far is this particular aircraft, this specific tail, AI171, has a clean history.

"I am told by all the experts that the black box and recorders will definitely tell the story. So, we just have to wait for that."

Chandrasekaran reiterated these remarks while speaking to India’s Economic Times, adding: "There are speculations about human error, speculations about airlines, speculations about engines, maintenance, all kinds.

"But the fact that I know so far is this particular aircraft, this specific tail, AI171 has a clean history."

Despite Chandrasekaran's comments in regards to the engines, aviation experts pointed out that the condition of them is not always dictated by their age.

"The age of the engine has no bearing on the health of the engine, especially for the Genx-1B engines," Kishore Chinta, a former investigator with India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau told the BBC.