Breaking News: India Plane Crash with 242 People on Board
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This is a breaking news update from Bloomberg. Instant reaction and analysis from our 3,000 journalists and analysts around the world.

We continue to follow the developing story in India and Air India jet headed for London's Gatwick Airport has crashed in Western India. Bloomberg's John Tucker has the very latest. John? Yeah, this is a 787 Dreamliner aircraft, Nathan, flight AI-171. As you said, traveling from Ahmadabad Airport in India to Gatwick, crashed shortly after takeoff. Now, footage from the scene this morning shows very,

very little that's even recognizable so we can say unlikely anybody on the plane survived probably it also appears to have hit a residential building so people on the ground may have been injured there is also video that shows the aircraft with its landing gear still extended shortly after takeoff

And then slowly descending before exploding into a huge fireball. Now, the airliner had reached an altitude of 625 feet. This is according to data from Flight Trader. This is a 787 Dreamliner, wide-body twin-engine plane. This is the first crash ever of a Boeing 787 aircraft. This is at least according to the Aviation Safety Network database.

The 787, of course, the company's most advanced in-service aircraft. It's popular with airlines because it's more fuel efficient thanks to lightweight composite materials. And this particular aircraft was almost 12 years old, part of Air India's fleet of about 34 Boeing 787s.

the airline itself in the middle of a strategic turnaround that includes a big aircraft order. And as soon as we get further details on this, we'll bring it to you immediately right here on Bloomberg Radio. Nathan. Joining us now is Bloomberg News Chief Global Aviation Correspondent Sid Phillip.

Sid, as we continue to gather details on this crash, it seems as though it's becoming increasingly grim. What is the very latest that you can tell us now? Good morning. Good morning. So we're trying to figure out what the latest is in terms of what the reasons for the crash are. But we do know that there were 242 people on board, including the crew. We do know that 169 of them were Indian citizens and there were also some 50 people.

UK citizens on board. And we're still waiting to see what the casualty numbers are. And if there were any survivors, it looks unlikely there were any survivors. We're also trying to figure out what the casualties on the ground was, because we understand that the...

aircraft crashed into a residential building and with some reports from the local government saying that it was a doctor's resident. So it does seem like a very, very, very, very tragic accident at the moment. And we will try and find out the details in terms of what really went wrong with the aircraft. I mean, this is the first incident

fatal accident for the 787. I mean, this is a technologically advanced aircraft. This is Boeing's flagship at the moment in terms of being able to be... It's a very carbon fiber aircraft with...

very advanced technology. And so this is a very big blow for the aircraft program because we haven't seen a fatal crash of it so far. And it's coming at a time, of course, when Boeing is in the midst of a turnaround plan. And we remember all the issues surrounding the

automation technology on board some of Boeing's most advanced aircraft. Based on what we know so far in terms of the footage that's come out, what can we ascertain as to what potentially could have caused this, Sid?

At the moment, it's still too early. I mean, we do know that the plane crashed shortly after takeoff. So it was, according to Flightradar24 data, it was only 625 feet in the air when it crashed. So it does seem like it just happened shortly after takeoff. And we don't really know the reasons in terms of what went wrong, but something went catastrophically wrong for the aircraft to crash.

We do know that this aircraft was an older 787. It was almost 12 years old. It had been in Air India's fleet since the end of 2013. And so essentially, we're trying to figure out what really went on with the aircraft. I mean, this...

This is obviously Boeing and Air India are in the midst of a turnaround. I mean, Boeing's been under lots of scrutiny, as you mentioned, for the 737 MAX, which is a different aircraft. But there's been a lot of pressure on Boeing to up its manufacturing quality and processes. But this aircraft obviously has been in service for a while now. Air India, at the same time, is also in the midst of a turnaround effort, which is

state-owned for many, many years, and it's finally been privatized under the Tata Group. And Tata Group announced massive expansion plans for the airline, including over 500 plane order from both Airbus and Boeing. They're revitalizing their fleet. They're revitalizing their destinations. And this would be a massive blow to those efforts because the airline has been sort of talking up the efforts to

increase services, increase destinations, add more capacity. And so this will sort of make them pause and sort of just make everyone look and say what way you went wrong and ascertain the causes and then try and make amends on that. Of course, air safety incidents like this are so rare around the world. But what is the air safety record like in India, Sid?

So this is the worst aviation accident in almost...

three decades. So, I mean, the last major crash that had a similar death toll was back in 1996. So this is, again, a very rare incident. India has got a fairly safe aviation environment and they haven't had any aviation safety incidents in recent years. But at the same time, I mean, aviation in general has seen a lot of fatal accidents in recent years. I mean, we obviously had the DC crash

back in January, and we've sort of had the fatal incident, which is kind of a certain what really went wrong. But I mean, there has been a spate of aviation incidents, so we will wait to see what happens. All right. Well, we'll continue monitoring the situation as well and gathering more details. Thank you for this. Sid Philip, Chief Global Aviation Correspondent for Bloomberg News with us this morning.

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