An Air India plane has crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad airport in western India, local media reported.
Air India said on Thursday that Flight AI171, a passenger flight to London Gatwick airport in the United Kingdom, was “involved in an incident”, reports Al Jazeera.
“At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates,” Air India said on X.
Gatwick airport said that Flight AI171 had been due to arrive at 6.25pm local time (17:25GMT).
According to the Police Control room, the Air India Flight AI 171 was bound for London. “On 12th Jun, 2025, M/s Air India B787 Aircraft VT-ANB, while operating flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad to Gatwick, has crashed immediately after takeoff from Ahmedabad.
Capt Sumit Sabharwal is an LTC with 8,200 hours of experience. The copilot had 1,100 hours of flying experience. As per ATC, the aircraft departed from Ahmadabad at 1339 IST (0809 UTC) from runway 23.
It gave a ‘MAYDAY’ Call to ATC, but thereafter, no response was given by the aircraft to the calls made by ATC. Immediately after departure from Runway 23, the Aircraft fell on the ground outside the airport perimeter. Heavy black smoke was seen coming from the accident site”, said a source in the DGCA.
“Flight AI171, operating Ahmedabad-London Gatwick, was involved in an incident today, 12 June 2025. At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates at the earliest on http://airindia.com and on our X handle,” Air India said in their ‘X’ post.
