Boeing`s top official Stephanie Pope meets Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran

On Monday, Stephanie Pope, the Head of Commercial Aeroplanes for Boeing, met with N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, during a visit to the Air India headquarters located in Gurugram, according to a reliable source.

While specific details regarding the meeting remain unknown, it is reported that the discussions focused on the recent crash of Air India`s London-bound flight, identified as AI171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which occurred in Ahmedabad the previous week, according to the same source, reported news agency PTI. 

The London-bound Air India flight AI-171 carrying passengers and crew members crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12. All but one on board the plane died along with 29 on the ground when the aircraft smashed into a medical complex.

The ill-fated flight was under the command of Capt Sabharwal along with First Officer Clive Kundar. While Sabharwal had 8,200 hours of flying experience, Kundar 1,100 hours, the DGCA earlier said in a statement.

The aircraft was carrying 242 individuals, comprising 230 passengers and 12 crew members. Only one person, Vishwashkumar Ramesh, a British national of Indian origin, survived the crash and is currently undergoing treatment for his injuries.

The aircraft commenced its takeoff at 1:39 pm and began to descend shortly thereafter, having reached an altitude of approximately 650 feet. At 1:39 pm, the pilot initiated a May Day call to the Ahmedabad Air Traffic Control (ATC), reported news agency PTI. 

When approached for comments, Boeing representatives declined to provide any information regarding the meeting between Pope and Chandrasekaran.

"We are not going to comment on that. As we have said, our thoughts are with the loved ones of all those affected by Air India Flight 171. We are focused on supporting the investigation and our customer," a Boeing spokesperson said.

Air India spokesperson could not be reached for comment.

Chandrasekaran visited the Air India headquarters and training academy on Monday and addressed some 700 employees and the leadership team in the wake of the June 12 crash, reported news agency PTI. 

"I have seen a reasonable number of crises in my career, but this is the most heartbreaking one which I never thought I would see," the sources quoted Chandrasekaran as saying.

He also urged the employees to show resilience and use this incident as an act of force to build a "safer airline"

(With inputs from PTI)