Investigators will miss the one-year anniversary deadline for releasing a final report into the Air India Boeing 787 crash that killed 260 people. The delay is due to an ongoing examination of the aircraft's engines, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The crash occurred shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025, and remains the deadliest air disaster in the world in a decade.
The one-year anniversary falls on Friday, by which time a final report would ordinarily be due under international rules, but the investigation will not be concluded in time, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The GE Aerospace-made engines have been central to the probe. Investigators conducted engine testing in April and travelled to France last month to analyse the engine management unit, Reuters reported.
Bloomberg News separately reported the final report was expected within three months once studies of the engines, which had been sent to the US for examination, were concluded.
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A preliminary report released last year showed the 787's engine fuel control switches moved almost simultaneously from "RUN" to "CUTOFF" shortly after takeoff, starving both engines of fuel.
A cockpit recording suggested the captain had cut the fuel flow, according to an early assessment by US officials reported by Reuters last year, though India's AAIB said at the time it was "too early to reach any definite conclusions."
The captain's father has since petitioned Supreme Court for an independent investigation that considered causes beyond deliberate pilot action.
The Federation of Indian Pilots also wrote to India's civil aviation minister and the prime minister's office on June 5, requesting that an interim report not be released and pushing for more technical data from Boeing and Air India to allow for a "rebuttal of the pilot suicide theory being explored by the AAIB," according to a letter seen by Reuters.
The preliminary report made no safety recommendations to Boeing or GE, indicating no technical issues had been identified at that stage. It was the world's first crash involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a model that has been in service since 2011.
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