Air India crash involved a Boeing Dreamliner. What’s the safety record?
Global News
The Air India plane crash was the first such incident for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, but air industry experts say they're not concerned due to the safety standards of the aircraft.
The deadly Air India crash involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft has left air industry experts describing the disaster as “puzzling” given the plane’s safety record.
Air India Flight 171 crashed in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on Thursday shortly after takeoff, with more than 240 people on board.
According to Vidhi Chaudhary, a top state police officer in the city who spoke to the Associated Press, at least 240 people were killed and that number includes medical students who were in the medical school hostel the plane crashed into.
The plane in the crash was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner: a widebody, twin-engine aircraft that has never been involved in such a serious incident.
It’s an entirely different aircraft than another Boeing plane, the 737 MAX, which was involved in multiple deadly disasters before being grounded around the world for overhauls of a key flight sensor system and the associated software that repeatedly forced the planes into dangerous nosedives.
Those aircraft are now back in service and like the Dreamliners, are flown by airlines around the world including Canadian airlines.
“The 787 Dreamliner has been an aircraft that has been in operation now for many years, operating in large states around the world without any issues,” said Hassan Shahidi, president and CEO of the nonprofit Flight Safety Foundation.
“So from an aircraft design and safety perspective (it) is indeed safe and it is puzzling to see this crash happen at this time.”
Boxer Anthony Joshua was involved in the fatal road crash near Lagos on Dec. 29, 2025, that killed two of his close associates and team members, Lateef Ayodele and Cina Ghami.
Mark Carney will be in France, where leaders of the bloc known as the Coalition of the Willing will gather to 'accelerate efforts toward a negotiated peace for Ukraine.'
U.S. President Donald Trump and top Iranian officials exchanged dueling threats Friday as widening protests swept across parts of the Islamic Republic.
Russia accused Ukraine of killing at least 24 people, including a child, in a drone strike on a hotel and cafe, while Kyiv said there had been another attack on its power supplies.
The deaths may mark the start of a heavier-handed response by Iran’s theocracy over the demonstrations, which have slowed in the capital, Tehran, but expanded elsewhere.
Dozens of people are presumed dead and about 100 injured, most of them seriously, following a fire at a bar in a Swiss Alps resort town during a New Year’s celebration.
The historic milestone arrives amid political instability and skepticism among ordinary people fueled by fears of prices rising in the eastern European country.