A Boeing 787-8 airplane bound for London crashed in India. There were 242 people on board. The Air India airliner went down minutes after takeoff, reports Reuters. Boeing shares fell sharply in morning trading in the United States.
Details
The plane crashed in a residential area of the western Indian city of Ahmedabad near the airport, reports Reuters. Air India confirmed that the crash was a Boeing 787-8 plane with 242 people on board. Of those, 12 were crew members, 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, one Canadian national and seven Portuguese nationals. The airline said there were survivors and they were being taken to hospitals. The plane was more than a decade old, noted the Financial Times, citing the FlightRadar24 flight tracking service.
As stated by the FT with reference to the Indian aviation regulator, the plane gave a distress signal to air traffic control, but did not respond to the controllers' response signals. Reuters writes citing TV reports, the crash occurred just after the plane took off. The footage, according to the publication, shows the wreckage burning and thick black smoke rising into the sky above the airport.
What's up with Boeing stock?
Shares of manufacturer Boeing fell nearly 8% on the U.S. premarket. That said, the 2025 paper has mostly appreciated: it's now worth nearly 21% more than it was in January.
The crash comes amid Boeing's struggle to restore confidence in the safety of its airplanes after two fatal 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019. As the FT writes, the company confirmed last week that it would pay $1.1 billion to avoid prosecution for the disasters, but the families of the 346 victims are challenging the agreement in court.
