Air India CEO reacts to AAIB preliminary report on crash 'No mechanical issues'

Air India chief executive officer (CEO) Campbell Wison on Monday said that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) initial report identified no cause nor made any recommendations and urged everyone to avoid drawing premature conclusions.

In a letter addressed to its employees, he defined the crash as “a period in which not a moment has gone by without thinking of the passengers, friends, colleagues and wider community who were lost or injured.”

“The release of the Preliminary Report marked the point at which we, along with the world, began receiving additional details about what took place. Unsurprisingly, it provided both greater



clarity and opened additional questions,” Wilson’s mail, seen by HT, read.

The CEO said that the report “also triggered a new round of speculation in the media.”

“Instead of focusing on such interpretations, I suggest we note that the Preliminary Report found no mechanical or maintenance issues with the aircraft or engines, and that all mandatory maintenance tasks had been completed. 

There was no issue with the quality of fuel and no abnormality with the take-off roll. The pilots had passed their mandatory pre-flight breathalyser and there were no observations pertaining to their medical status,” Wilson stated.