Boeing official Stephanie Pope meets Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran

N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons
| Photo Credit:
PAUL NORONHA

US aircraft major Boeing’s Head of Commercial Airplanes Stephanie Pope met Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran during a visit to the Air India headquarters in Gurugram on Monday, a source said.

While specific details of the meeting were not known, the discussions were centred around the crash of Air India’s London-bound flight AI171 — Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner — in Ahmedabad last week, the source said.

Over 270 people were killed in the June 12 crash. The flight carrying 242 passengers and crew crashed into a medical college complex less than a minute after take-off.

The aircraft took off at 1:39 pm and started sinking seconds later after reaching a height of about 650 feet. At 1:39 pm, the pilot sent a May Day call to the Ahmedabad ATC.

When contacted, Boeing declined to comment on the meeting between Pope and Chandrasekaran.

“We are not going to comment on that. As we have said, our thoughts are with the loved ones of all those affected by Air India Flight 171. We are focused on supporting the investigation and our customer,” a Boeing spokesperson said.

Air India spokesperson could not be reached for comment.

Chandrasekaran visited the Air India headquarters and training academy on Monday and addressed some 700 employees and the leadership team in the wake of the June 12 crash.

“I have seen a reasonable number of crises in my career, but this is the most heart-breaking one, which I never thought I would see,” the sources quoted Chandrasekaran as saying.

He also urged the employees to show resilience and use this incident as an act of force to build a “safer airline”.

Published on June 17, 2025