Air India Faces Criticism Over Settlement Offers to Crash Victims' Families Before Investigation Concludes

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner operating as Air India Flight AI-171 crashed 32 seconds after takeoff from Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025, killing 241 of 242 people on board and 19 people on the ground when it struck a hostel at BJ Medical College. On the first anniversary, families returned to the crash site for memorials while the AAIB issued only a status update rather than the final report many had expected, citing ongoing analysis of the aircraft's GE Aerospace engines. A preliminary report released a month after the crash had identified that both fuel control switches moved to the 'cut-off' position immediately after takeoff, but stopped short of explaining why, leaving open questions about pilot error, mechanical failure, or other causes. Separately, controversy erupted over Air India's compensation process: the daughter of former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani publicly accused the airline of pressuring families to sign broad release and indemnity documents — covering Boeing, GE Aerospace, Safran, Honeywell, and government agencies — before the investigation concluded, a charge Air India denied, saying families faced no deadline and could wait for the final report. Identification of victims proved deeply problematic, with at least two UK families receiving misidentified or commingled remains, prompting a UK inquest and calls for greater transparency; India's NDMA has since issued updated disaster victim identification guidelines drawing on lessons from the crash. The sole survivor, British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, described living with 'significant psychological scars,' the loss of his brother, and financial hardship, while families across India and the UK described an agonising year of unanswered questions, grief, and in some cases additional hardships such as deportation proceedings and disputed compensation.