On 12 June 2025, Air India Flight AI171, operating a scheduled passenger flight from Ahmedabad Airport in India to London Gatwick, crashed on take-off. There were 230 passengers and 12 crew onboard. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane crashed in a residential area, into accommodation used by doctors.

Initial reports suggest the crew made a “mayday” distress call to air traffic control shortly after take-off which appears to have been the last communication from the aircraft.

Available support

We have produced the below briefing documents to guide families through the repatriation process, the investigation, what we know, their legal rights, what happens now and how we can support them.

Latest updates on Air India Flight AI171 crash: what happens next?

Peter Neenan, Partner in our Aviation team, comments: “The news of the tragic loss of Air India Flight 171 is heartbreaking. At this time, very little is known about the cause. This is a time for grieving.”

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Peter said: “In due course, the Indian Directorate of General Civil Aviation will begin their investigation. The US National Transportation Safety Board will assist in that investigation and given the number of British nationals onboard we would expect the UK Air Accident Investigation Branch to also assist.”

He continued: “Those investigations routinely take two or more years to complete. The investigation will look at technical factors concerning the Boeing aircraft as well as operational and weather-related issues. At this time, based on the video, anything is possible.

“Families will have rights in England and/or India against Air India and may have rights against Boeing in the US depending on what the investigation reveals. Our advice to families at this early stage is to focus on themselves and their grief. There is time to seek legal advice.”

Peter also comments about the next stages of the investigation: “We have seen the evidence that indicates that the RAT was deployed. The RAT is deployed in a number of circumstances including a double engine failure. If the aircraft did suffer a double engine failure as appears likely, the key question for the families is ‘what was the cause of the double engine failure?’”

Peter also discusses what the investigations findings could mean for the legal rights of families: “While families will have guaranteed legal rights against Air India in England and India, they may have also have a possible right against Boeing in the US if the cause of the double engine failure was a technical malfunction or design error. A double engine failure caused by other factors such as fuel mismanagement or maintenance issues are unlikely to lead to any additional legal rights outside of India. The Boeing 787 records more data than any other Boeing within the Digital Flight Data Recorder, and that evidence will be key to understanding the initial cause of any failure. This will invariably be a primarily focus of the investigation undertaken by the Indian Air Accident Investigation Bureau which the UK AAIB and US NTSB will be assisting in, and we would expect to see clear and helpful initial indications in the preliminary report confirming the basic fact pattern.”

Early offers of compensation from airlines

Sarah Stewart, Partner in our Aviation team comments on reports that passengers are being offered compensation by the airline. She says: “Early offers of compensation are not unusual and it’s something we’ve seen before, for example in the Singapore Airlines turbulence case but also on other major airline disaster cases. It’s too early for grieving families to be considering offers of compensation.”

“When the time is right, they will want to seek specialist legal advice before accepting any offer of compensation as it may limit their rights down the line. It’s better to wait for investigations to progress so that we understand fully what happened on that flight; in particular given there has been one survivor.”

We have been contacted by families who have lost loved ones in this accident and have provided help and support. Sarah advises families not to rush into legal proceedings: “Families do not need to file proceedings in any jurisdiction at this time, as doing so will, in all likelihood, negatively affect their legal rights in the future. We strongly encourage families to take this time to grieve, repatriate the bodies of their loved ones, and not be persuaded by any lawyers to commence premature legal proceedings in any jurisdiction.”

All families should be represented by lawyers who have first-hand experience in international aviation accidents, or by local law firms who are acting as Co-Counsel alongside specialist firms. Families should not seek the services of claims management companies or investigators for legal representation.

Our expertise in Aviation claims

Over the last 19 years, our specialist Aviation team has acted for over 1200 bereaved families and injured survivors of over 110 aviation accidents across the world.

Families who require legal assistance can contact Stewarts at flight171@stewartslaw.com in English, Gujarati or Hindi.

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