New Delhi: The plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 12 has devastated and destroyed several families, shaken up the world and benumbed the Air India management.
In a rarest of rare accident, a London Gatwick-bound Dreamliner aircraft crashed into a medical college hostel building 30 seconds after take-off, barely 2 km from the airport. The aircraft, having split into several parts, was reduced to a blazing orange inferno as 125,000 litres of fuel exploded.
All but one of 242 persons on board the Air India flight AI-171, along with at least 30 people on ground, died in the horrific crash.
As a mark of respect for the departed souls, Air India and Air India Express are likely to do away with flight number ‘171’, PTI reported citing sources.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, the first of its kind to crash in its 16-year history, was operating as flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick.
It is general practice that airlines stop using specific flight numbers after fatal accidents.
From June 17, the flight number of Ahmedabad-London Gatwick will be AI-159, instead of AI 171. The required changes to the booking system were made on Friday, informed a source.
Air India Express, a low-cost airline and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India which operates flights to 45 destinations across India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, has also decided to do away with its flight number ‘IX-171.
Air India Express had discontinued using flight number IX-1344 after its aircraft crashed in Kozhikode in 2020, killing 21 people on board.