No Problem With Boeing 787 Yet

Daniel-Fowkes-Profile
19 Jun 2025
2 min read
· Aircraft 
· Airlines 
A Boeing 787 Dreamliner

India’s governing regulator has cleared the Boeing 787 of major safety concerns following inspections.

The findings are in response to the fatal accident that occurred aboard an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, leaving just one survivor from the aircraft last week.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation confirmed in a published statement that the aircraft, which had been inspected alongside associated maintenance systems, were found to be compliant with the safety standards that had already been established.

Additionally, the regulator confirmed its push to Air India for their safety inspections to be conducted across their Dreamliner fleet, a necessary step to thoroughly inspect their planes.

Those inspections, which are being undertaken by the flag carrier in response to the crash and at the request of India’s watchdog, have resulted in the necessary trimming of international services over the coming weeks.

Despite these works, there is still no confirmation on the findings from the incident, even from a preliminary standpoint.

An Air India Boeing 787-8 registered as VT-NAC in Bangkok
An Air India Boeing 787-8 registered as VT-NAC in Bangkok – Photo: Aero Icarus

As a result, with the DGCA leading the task force and assisted by many other parties, there remains much to uncover to determine the cause of the crash so soon after takeoff.

For Boeing, the accident involving Air India and its 787 represented the first fatal incident with the series since it was first introduced to carriers well over a decade ago.

Since its introduction, the jet has been a champion of efficiency, with over a thousand aircraft already delivered. Its versatility is a key reason for its sustained success.

The Boeing 787 Crash

Last week, a major incident rocked the world, a Boeing 787-8 operating a routine flight from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick crashed just moments after departure.

Flight AI171 was operated by VT-ANB, with a serial number of 36279. This particular aircraft had completed more than 41,000 hours of flight time and almost 8,000 takeoffs and landings before it crashed

An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner registered as VT-ANA
Photo credit: Alessandro Ambrosetti

Unfortunately, given the populated nature of the crash site, there were further fatalities for those who were on the ground at the time the jet impacted.

The sole survivor from the aircraft was a British national of Indian origin and is considered a miracle given the 241 other crew and passengers who perished.

Daniel-Fowkes-Profile

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Daniel Fowkes

Daniel Fowkes is a Melbourne-based aviation analyst and journalist with over a decade of industry experience. As founder of Dj’s Aviation, he delivers trusted analysis on aircraft, airline strategy and global aviation trends for djsaviation.net

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