Good evening Mr. Chandrasekaran. We meet in difficult times at a time when this country has seen probably the worst air crash in recent times. At a time we can still hear probably the cries of help that may have gone out at that time. I want to ask you Mr. Chandrasekaran, you said this was the most difficult time that you and your company have faced. Where were you when you first got the information?
On June 12th on that day, I was in Bombay in my office. I was in an internal meeting when I first heard the news. It was quite shocking and something that is incomprehensible. It took me a few seconds to gather myself, then I immediately rushed to the airport to fly to Ahmedabad.
How did you hear about it? Was it a colleague?
It was a call that I got from someone. 'Hey Chundra, what is happening?' I went out, my assistant was there, she switched on the TV, but I didn't wait for anything and immediately I rushed.
And what were your first thoughts? Did you get information on what the casualties were like, or was it just instinctive that you ran?
I knew immediately I have to go to Ahmedabad. So I asked the office to immediately arrange a flight. I started making calls as I was leaving the office, sitting in the car, going to the airport. I was making calls to Air India, to our people in Gujarat, our manager in Gujarat. There are many Tata companies, so I was getting information piece by piece. By the time I reached the airport and was getting into the flight, I knew the enormity. I was also watching online, taking calls, trying to assemble people. It was a very difficult situation. I thought we needed a response team on the ground. I called our Air India people and also all our Tata colleagues. People were calling, wanting to know more, thinking I would know more, but I was like anyone else.
Did you initially hope that there would be some survivors, or did you know from the start that it was a bad crash?
No, I was like everyone else, hoping that people would survive. You were praying like everyone else. God, what is happening? Somehow you hoped that people would survive because you haven't seen the site, you are only hearing stories. I was hoping that there would be damage but people would survive. But there is anger amongst the families demanding answers. Many people are totally taken aback. You must have read the stories too—the Johi family, the father settled in London, coming back to pick up his wife and three children, the entire family wiped out. Then the case of Arjun Manubhai Poleia who came to give his wife's ashes away, leaving his two daughters, 8 and 12, back in London, and now his children are orphaned. What would you say to them today?
What would you say to these people?
It is the most horrific story you can ever hear. It is a heart-wrenching situation. It is very difficult to console anyone who has lost a mother, a father, a husband, a wife, a son. Whatever you say cannot be sufficient to console them from this loss. All I can say is that I grieve with them as much as they do. I mean it for me and all my Tata colleagues. We want to consider them as part of the Tata family for life. The families that remain, we just have to be with them. We will be with them. But it is very hard to console because you cannot get the life back.
How would you be with them in helping them every way now and in the future? Those two young girls, 8 and 12, what are they going to do without their parents, and how will the Tata group be with them?
There are structures we want to put in place. One of the things we have been thinking is to create, for example, an AI71 trust that will be available to look after them. But there are many needs, not just financial. We've got to think through and create the trust and infrastructure so that we can be with the family. Some will not need help, some will need some kind of help, some will need emotional help. We will find this out. It could happen to anyone. It is very hard to explain what these people are going through.
What would you want to say to them today?
It is an extremely difficult situation. I have no words to express to console any one of them. I just deeply regret that this accident happened in an Air India airline, and I feel very sorry. All we can do is be with them. We grieve with them and do everything we can.
Have you spoken to any of these families?
I have so far only met the lone survivor. Now we plan to visit as many families as possible, myself and my colleagues. We intend to visit all the families. But currently, our job is to help the families come to Ahmedabad, collect the remains, provide grief counseling, and all the way to the final rites. We have one Tata colleague as an angel deployed to work with each family. There are 400 Tata people across companies in Ahmedabad. We are trying to be with each family in the next few days to get through this stage. Then we need to meet them, support them, and see what we can do.
Mr. Chandrasekaran, on the first day there was a statement where you said you need a transparent investigation into what happened. Where have you reached with that probe? There would be one Tata investigation apart from the other investigations. What have you found so far?
This is a crisis or tragedy of gigantic proportion. It has affected everybody—the families, the whole country. There is a lot of fear and anger. I understand that personally. I have traveled a lot, used to travel 200 days internationally a year for 20 years, and have faced flight diversions, cancellations, all kinds of issues. I understand the level of fear. Everyone wants to know what happened. Unless we know what happened, there is no hope to fix it. We must go through the process. Airline systems are complex with redundancy. The fact that these incidents are rare is because such systems exist. But still this occurred. Unless we wait for the investigation, we can get into speculations—human error, airline issues, engines, maintenance. I know so far that this particular aircraft, the AI71, has a clean history. The right engine was new, put in March 2025. The left engine was serviced in 2023, due next maintenance in December 2025. Both engine histories are clean. I couldn't find anything with the team. Both pilots are exceptional. Captain Sabherwal has over 11,500 hours of flying experience, First Officer Clive over 3,400 hours. They were excellent pilots. We can't jump to conclusions. There are many theories on YouTube, media channels. Unless we wait for the investigations and the black box recorders, we just have to wait. It's important not to jump to conclusions.
So if you're saying everything was perfect, the engines, one was new, one was due for servicing only by the end of the year, then what went wrong?
