According to the preliminary report from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) the crash of Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner on June 12, 2025, was due to the fuel supply to the engines being cut off.
Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which was en route to the UK and had 242 people on board, crashed into a residential neighborhood, shortly after taking off from India’s Ahmedabad Airport. Only one passenger survived the disaster, while nineteen people on the ground have also lost their lives in fiery crash.
The report, which was made public over the weekend, said that the cockpit levers responsible for regulating the fuel supply to the aircraft’s motors were switched to the ‘cut off’ position mere seconds after takeoff, resulting in the cessation of fuel flow to both engines.
According to the report, one of the pilots can be heard within the cockpit voice recording, inquiring about the reason for the fuel switch being turned off. “The other pilot replied that he had not done so,” the report says, adding that mere seconds after this exchange, the aircraft began to lose altitude.
Pilots managed to restart one engine after turning switches back “on” but the aircraft continued its descent, prompting one of the pilots to issue a Mayday call. The aircraft remained airborne for only 32 seconds and covered a distance of 0.9 nautical miles before crashing.
Is is not clear from the report whether the switches were flipped manually or by accident. It also does not attribute the comments it references to either the captain or the first officer, nor does it specify who made the distress call.
The AAIB investigators have dismissed concerns regarding fuel quality, overloading, bird strikes, and the existence of dangerous cargo. All systems were reported to be functioning normally at the time of takeoff. Currently, the report does not imply any action against Boeing, the manufacturer of the aircraft, or General Electric, the engine maker. Both companies, along with the US Federal Aviation Administration and the UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch, are participating in the ongoing investigation.
In response to the report, Indian Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu urged the public to refrain from “jumping to conclusions,” emphasizing that the findings are preliminary and that “many technicalities” still remain unresolved. Air India acknowledged the report in a statement on X, saying that it is cooperating with the authorities, but has chosen not to provide any comments.
In the wake of the crash, India’s aviation authority announced mandatory safety inspections for all Air India Dreamliners.
In early stages of the investigation, experts have mentioned possible crew mistakes, mechanical malfunctions, or erroneous takeoff configurations as potential factors contributing to the disaster.
Boeing has been under increasing examination regarding safety concerns in recent years. Its 737 MAX aircraft was grounded globally from 2019 to 2020 after two deadly accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia that resulted in the deaths of 346 people.
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