Air India Boeing 787 headed to London crashes after takeoff

An Air India Boeing Co 787 aircraft traveling from Ahmedabad in India to London’s Gatwick airport crashed shortly after taking off, in what stands to be the most serious accident involving the US planemaker’s most advanced widebody airliner.

The airline said that Flight AI171 was “involved in an incident” and that Air India is “ascertaining the details.” Footage shared on social media showed a giant plume of smoke engulfing the crash site, with no reports of fatalities or survivors. The flight was carrying 242 passengers and crew, according to news agency ANI.

Video footage showed the aircraft with its landing gear still extended shortly after takeoff and slowly descending, before exploding into a huge fireball upon impact. The twin-engine plane had reached an altitude of 625 feet at a speed of 174 knots per second, according to data from Flightradar24.

Gatwick Airport, the second-largest in the London area, confirmed that the plane, which was due to land in the UK capital at 6:25 pm, had crashed.

The accident extends a series of serious and fatal incidents in the civil aviation industry this year, including a mid-air collision in Washington early in 2025 between a military helicopter and an aircraft. Air India is in the middle of a strategic turnaround that includes a huge aircraft order as it seeks to tap growing demand from a rising Indian middle class.

Tata Group, which owns the carrier, said in a statement that Air India Flight 171 operating from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick was involved in an accident.

© 2025 Bloomberg

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