Our Aviation team has now been formally retained by multiple families in both the UK and India and is advising the families of more than 40 passengers who died on Air India Flight 171, which crashed en route to London Gatwick Airport on 12 June 2025.
Air India Flight 171 crash under investigation by Stewarts’ International Aviation team
Stewarts’ team has partnered with Nanavati and Nanavati, the leading law firm in Ahmedabad, to ensure that it is uniquely placed to assist families and victims of this tragedy in their claims against Air India, Boeing and other potentially responsible parties. Stewarts has also partnered with Clifford Law and Kreindler & Kreindler to prosecute claims against Boeing and other US based defendants following this disaster.
Stewarts, Clifford Law and Kreindler are recognised as global leaders in aviation law, protecting and pursuing the rights of families following aviation disasters worldwide.
Our clients were told by Air India that they have to complete a questionnaire to receive an advance payment, forcing them to fill out this questionnaire in intense heat with no guidance on the terms and questions within it. We have now heard that Air India is following up with families and pressuring them to complete the questionnaire under threats of receiving no compensation.
International Aviation team supporting and advising families of Air India 171 tragedy
Peter Neenan commented as follows:
“Our clients have shown us the questionnaire. It demands legally significant information using terms with a legal definition which is not being told to families. The information being asked could be used against families by Air India in the future, even though few families will understand how the questions should be interpreted or the test that should be applied for each of the terms used.
We are advising our clients not to complete this form, and we will seek the payment for them. We are shocked and appalled that Air India is pressurising families for this information when they are at their most vulnerable. They should feel ashamed.”
Meet our Aviation team
Stewarts is meeting families individually and organising group meetings for England-based families. Any families affected can contact Sarah Stewart at sstewart@stewartslaw.com or Peter Neenan at pneenan@stewartslaw.com, and we would be happy to meet you individually or in one of our group meetings.
We will also be meeting Indian-based clients and families in Ahmedabad on 10 and 11 July. Families who would like to attend our briefing should reach out to Sarah or Peter; or for those families preferring to speak Gujarati, Bhargav Pandya from our partner firm Nanavati & Nanavati at bppandya@nanavati.co.in / +91 9925900701.
Stewarts is the UK’s leading claimant Aviation team. The team is led by Peter Neenan and Sarah Stewart, jointly recognised by legal directories as the only top tier claimant aviation lawyers in the UK. The team forms part of the broader specialist dispute litigation firm Stewarts, which boasts over 450 litigators and a preeminent India practice.
Clifford Law and Kreindler & Kreindler are widely recognised as the pinnacle of US aviation law firms and the top two US firms representing families of passengers killed in aviation disasters worldwide. Between them, they represented families of 137 of 157 passengers killed in the recent Boeing 737 Max8 Ethiopian Airlines disaster litigation against Boeing in the US. This litigation has resulted in Boeing paying higher figures of total compensation than any other case in history.
