Air India 787 Dreamliner Crash Sparks Fresh Scrutiny on Boeing’s Safety Record and Global Fleet

3 Boeing 747 Dreamliners

The fatal crash of a 787 Dreamliner that was being operated by Air India from Ahmedabad in

northwestern India to London Gatwick Airport has once again fueled scrutiny of both Boeing

and the airline, as the two companies have been trying to emerge from years of crises and poor reputations. The fatal crash raises new concerns for both firms as they try to revamp after years of problems that marred their reputations.

The nearly 12-year-old Dreamliner crashed on a densely populated part of the city soon after

takeoff, killing 241 of the 242 people on board on Thursday. The total death toll is expected to

rise as the plane fell on a medical college hostel and rescue operations are still under way.

The crash raises new concerns for Boeing, which continues to face mounting safety issues that have undermined public trust in its aircraft. These challenges come as the Seattle-based

aerospace giant grapples with economic pressures from tariffs imposed by United States

President Donald Trump, as well as increased regulatory attention that followed its recent

safety issues. Boeing`s new CEO Kelly Ortberg had been set to head to the Paris Air Show, the industry's biggest event of the year, after several key accomplishments in recent weeks as he tries to rebuild public trust in Boeing following a series of safety and production crises.

But his plan to attend the show next week with Boeing Commercial Airplanes head Stephanie

Pope has been scrapped, Ortberg said, as the company focuses on the investigation into the

first-ever crash of a 787 jet, its most advanced model.

The reason behind the crash is not yet clear. But it is yet another fatal accident involving a

Boeing aircraft, adding to a string of public relations crises that have made many travellers wary of flying on its planes. The company’s safety reputation began to unravel in October 2018 when a Lion Air flight operating a 737 MAX crashed due to a malfunction in the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), a programme designed to prevent stalls. That crash killed all 189 people on board. Just months later, in March 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines flight using the same aircraft model crashed for the same reason, killing all 157 people aboard. Turmoil resurfaced in January 2024, when a door panel detached mid-flight on an Alaska Airlines route between Ontario, California, and Portland, Oregon.

But until now, the 787 Dreamliner aircraft had maintained a relatively strong safety record.

First launched in 2011, Boeing has sold more than 2,500 of the model globally. Air India bought 47 of them, and to date, Boeing has delivered 1,189 Dreamliners. The model has faced years of safety-related scrutiny. In 2024, John Barnett, a former Boeing quality manager, was found dead under suspicious circumstances after long voicing concerns about the 787. Barnett had alleged that Boeing cut corners to meet production deadlines, including installing inadequate parts. He also claimed that testing revealed a 25-percent failure rate in the aircraft’s emergency oxygen systems.

In 2019, The New York Times published an expose that revealed Boeing had pressured workers not to report safety violations, citing internal emails, documents, and employee interviews. More recently, another whistleblower, Sam Salehpour, told lawmakers he was threatened for raising safety concerns about Boeing aircraft. However air safety experts have said that at this time there is no reason to think a malfunction was the cause of the crash.

Meanwhile the Indian government is considering grounding Air India’s Boeing 787 fleet in

response to the crash. The country’s Ministry of Civil Aviation is mulling grounding all Boeing

787-8 Dreamliners as a precautionary measure while a safety review takes place, sources told

Indian broadcaster NDTV. Air India uses 787-8 for long-haul flights to the UK, North America and the Middle East, and the airline is expected to receive another one of the aircraft by the end of the year.

Source: Al Jazeera, Reuters