Civil Aviation Ministry's key meet on Air India crash, safety protocols shortly

New Delhi,UPDATED: Jun 14, 2025 10:10 IST

Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu will chair a high-level meeting Saturday on the investigation into the Air India Flight AI171 crash in Ahmedabad and to assess broader air safety protocols, sources said.

This will be the first meeting at the Ministry of Civil Aviation in Delhi following the disaster, which claimed 265 lives. Senior officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Airports Authority of India (AAI), and MoCA will be present for the huddle at 10:30 a.m.

According to sources, the minister will review the progress of the probe into the plane crash, with discussions focusing on evidence recovered so far and the next steps in the investigation. Inputs and reports from various aviation and emergency response agencies will reportedly be sought.

All but one of the 242 passengers and crew on board the London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner perished when the plane went down moments after taking off from Ahmedabad airport, ploughing into the campus of BJ Medical College. The crash also claimed the lives of 24 people on the ground, including five medical students.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said on Friday that the digital flight data recorder (DFDR), commonly referred to as the black box, was recovered from the rooftop of a hostel at BJ Medical College. The data will be pivotal in reconstructing the final moments of the flight and identifying the root cause of the tragedy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the accident site and met with injured survivors at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital on Friday.

As experts continue to speculate over the cause of the crash—from dual engine failure, flap malfunction, or bird strikes—aviation authorities have ramped up safety checks.

The DGCA has ordered enhanced inspections of Air India’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet, which includes 26 B787-8 and 7 B787-9 aircraft powered by GEnx engines.