Air India Reveals One Engine on Crashed Plane Was Brand New, Investigation Underway

Air India’s chairman, N Chandrasekaran, has confirmed that one of the engines on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that crashed last week was newly installed, while the other was not scheduled for maintenance until December 2025. Speaking to Indian media, he emphasized that both engines had clean operational records.

“The right engine was newly fitted in March 2025, and the left engine was last serviced in 2023 with its next check planned for December,” Chandrasekaran told Times Now.

The tragic crash of flight AI171, which was headed to London, killed at least 270 people shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport in western India. Authorities are now meticulously examining the wreckage and analyzing data from the aircraft’s black boxes to uncover the exact cause.

Chandrasekaran urged caution against premature conclusions, noting, “There are many speculations, but this aircraft had a clean history. Experts believe the black box data will reveal what happened.”

A former investigator, Kishore Chinta, explained that an engine’s age does not necessarily reflect its condition, especially with the Boeing 787’s Genx-1B engines. These engines use a digital monitoring system called FADEC to assess health continuously, with maintenance decisions driven by performance data rather than fixed schedules. However, some parts of the engines still have set lifespans based on usage cycles.

In response to the crash, Air India has cut international wide-body flights by 15% until mid-July, citing enhanced safety checks, operational caution, and geopolitical tensions. So far, 26 out of 33 Boeing 787 aircraft have been inspected and cleared, with further checks underway on the rest and on the Boeing 777 fleet.

The incident is a significant setback for Air India as it transitions from a government-owned entity to a private company under Tata Sons, which acquired the airline in 2022.