An Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed seconds after take-off from Ahmedabad on 12 June 2025, killing 260 people. The aircraft, bound for London, came down roughly six kilometres from the airport and struck a building used as doctors’ accommodation at a medical college, triggering an explosion. According to Indian authorities, 241 passengers and crew died on board and 19 people on the ground were killed; a single passenger, a man from Leicester in the United Kingdom, survived.

In an affidavit filed with the Supreme Court in New Delhi, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said the draft final report is expected to be ready by October 2026. The bureau stated that the investigation’s analysis phase should conclude within six weeks, after which the draft will be shared with the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for comment, as required under International Civil Aviation Organization rules because the US is the state of design and manufacture. The affidavit disclosed that 49 of the 66 mandated steps for a serious accident inquiry have been completed. A psychological autopsy and evaluation have been finalised and a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder prepared, though the bureau did not reveal whose psychological profile was examined. Analysis of data from an engine monitoring unit is still awaited, and an assessment of organisational factors remains in progress.

The AAIB reiterated an absolute statutory prohibition on releasing cockpit voice recordings and airborne image recordings to the public, citing Indian rules and the need to protect witness candour and the impartiality of the investigation. The preliminary report published in July 2025 had noted that fuel-control switches moved abruptly to the cut-off position seconds after rotation, starving both engines of fuel. Cockpit audio captured one pilot asking the other why he had done it, and the other replying that he had not; the report did not identify which pilot made each statement. That ambiguity prompted media speculation, particularly around the senior pilot, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal. His father has petitioned the Supreme Court for an independent inquiry. In its affidavit, the AAIB said media narratives attributing blame to the pilots had “regrettably, caused some witnesses to become restrictive and non-responsive”.

Viewed from Washington, the NTSB’s role as a commenting party underscores the international architecture of the probe, which is governed by the Chicago Convention and Annex 13 and involves the state of registry, operator, design and manufacture. Indian investigators noted that comparable inquiries—such as those into the Japan Airlines runway collision in January 2024 and the Jeju Air crash in December 2024—have yet to produce final reports, while the NTSB took about a year to publish its findings on the January 2025 Potomac River midair collision. The AAIB has not disclosed any conclusions about the cause of the Ahmedabad crash, and the investigation remains ongoing.