Kathmandu. As many as 83 Air India flights were cancelled from June 12 to 17 this month. According to a statement issued by India’s aviation regulator DGCA, of the 83 cancelled flights, 66 were Boeing 787 models. On June 12, a model aircraft crashed in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
At least 270 people were killed in the Ahmedabad road accident. This is the biggest plane crash in the last decade. On June 12, Air India flight AI-171 took off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport for London with 242 people on board. However, the plane crashed within seconds of take-off. Only one passenger on board survived the crash.
The plane crashed into a medical college hostel. As a result, other people were also affected by it. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
What does the data say?
A study of statistics shows that Air India has faced more than 30 accidents in the last 78 years. About 14 of these accidents have killed people.
In 1985, all 329 passengers were killed in a bomb blast on flight number AI-182. The plane crash in Ahmedabad has become the second most painful accident for Air India after this.
According to the latest DGCA data, Air India is Boeing’s largest customer in India. There are 54 Boeing aircraft in its fleet. Of these, 28 are in the Boeing-787 series.
Its low-cost company Air India Express also has 48 aircraft, of which 43 are Boeing. Last year, the airline placed an order to buy 220 Boeing aircraft. Of these, 20 are in 787 series.
Several other Air India flights have been cancelled due to technical reasons after the Ahmedabad plane crash. An Air India flight from San Francisco to Mumbai had to land in Kolkata. Air India’s Boeing 787-8 flight from Hong Kong to Delhi had to return midway after the pilot suspected a technical snag in the aircraft. Another flight from Delhi to Vadodara had to return to Delhi. According to the report, some problem was found in the landing gear of this flight.
Boeing experienced more than 2500 accidents
Boeing is currently facing a financial and security crisis. The aircraft manufacturer suffered a loss of $1 billion each month last year.
In 2018 and 2019, two of Boeing’s 737 MAX planes crashed minutes after takeoff. One of these accidents occurred in Indonesia. In which 189 people died. The other happened in Ethiopia. In which 157 people lost their lives. It was said that there was a software glitch behind these accidents. As a result, aircraft of this model did not get a chance to fly for 18 months.
According to an analysis based on data from the Aviation Safety Network, there were at least 40 fatal plane crashes worldwide between 2014 and 2025. Of these, 12 accidents were related to Boeing flights.
However, the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which crashed in Ahmedabad, has suffered a fatal accident for the first time. Although there have been accidents in the past, no one has lost their lives in them. Boeing has so far suffered more than 2,500 plane crashes. At least 500 people have died in accidents.
Questions on safety of air travel from plane crashes
If we look at the old statistics of fatal accidents in civil aviation, it is known that such accidents were very common in the 1970s and 1980s. However, over time, the annual statistics of fatal accidents have decreased. There has been a significant increase in the number of flights.
In 1970, there were 6.8 million aircraft. By June 2024, it had increased to 33.8 million. Despite this increase, the number of plane crashes remains very low. In 2024, the rate of aircraft accidents per million flights is 0.12.
Increased number of flights decreased among fatal plane crashes
According to statistics, the deadliest plane crash occurs as the end of the journey approaches. Between 2015 and 2024, 37 percent of all fatal commercial plane crashes occurred during landing. However, the landing accounted for only 1% of the total flight time. On the other hand, only 10 percent of fatal accidents occurred when the plane was in the air. Which is 57 percent of the entire flight time. –Translated from the BBC
