The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) did not release any report on the Air India Flight 171 crash on Friday, marking the first anniversary of the tragedy in Ahmedabad that claimed 260 lives. This missed the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) 12-month recommendation for a final or interim report.
The Annex 13 document of ICAO, which outlines guidelines for accident investigation, does not mandate but only recommends that member states release a final report within 12 months of an accident. The Ministry of Civil Aviation stated on Friday that significant progress has been made in examining and analyzing aircraft systems, flight recorder data, and engine-related components. “The evidence gathered and the results of various examinations are currently being analyzed in a comprehensive and integrated manner… Additional technical evaluations and specialist examinations, wherever considered necessary, will continue to be undertaken to ensure that all findings and conclusions are supported by verified evidence and sound scientific analysis,” the ministry said.
For decades, India had adhered to the 12-month deadline for fatal airline accident reports, but since the 2010 Air India Express Mangalore accident, that trend has shifted. The final report into the Mangalore accident was released in 2012, and the final report into the 2020 Air India Express crash in Calicut was released 13 months after the accident. Prior to that, final reports of the 2000 Alliance Air Patna crash, 1996 Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, 1993 Indian Airlines Aurangabad, 1991 Indian Airlines Imphal, and 1990 Indian Airlines Bangalore accident, among others, were released within a year of occurrence.
Under ICAO’s Annex 13, the purpose of an investigation is to determine causes to prevent recurrence. Therefore, ICAO recommends that if a final report cannot be released within 12 months, an interim report should be made public on the anniversary, repeated annually until the final report is released. India did not release an interim report on Friday.
The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) said it had requested the government not to release an interim report. “Given the controversy surrounding the AI 171 accident, we requested the government to not release an interim report,” said FIP president Capt C S Randhawa.
Two conflicting theories—one suggesting the pilot sabotaged the aircraft and the other that the B787 suffered a fatal technical fault—have been at the center of controversy. “The interim report will lead to greater confusion and speculations. Such an action could be detrimental to the investigations being done by the AAIB. Moreover, such a report cannot be conclusive due to further investigations being carried out,” said a letter sent by FIP to the government earlier this week.
The London-bound AI171 crashed immediately after taking off from Ahmedabad airport on June 12, 2025. Of the 242 people on board, 241 were killed, and 19 other victims were on the ground at the hostel complex of Ahmedabad’s B J Medical College that the plane crashed into.
The closest international parallel to AI171 may be Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, the 2019 Boeing 737 MAX crash that killed 157 people. Days after the accident, the B737 MAX was grounded worldwide. Ethiopia finally released the final report in December 2022, more than three-and-a-half years after the crash. In an unusual response, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis (BEA) issued separate critiques. The NTSB said the report shifted blame away from the airline and its pilots while containing factual errors. It also stated that Ethiopia had issued the report without allowing the NTSB to review newly-added material, as required under ICAO’s Annex 13. By contrast, Indonesia’s investigation into the related Lion Air 610 B737 MAX crash was completed and released almost exactly on the one-year deadline.
A 2023 International Air Transport Association review of 214 airline accident investigations between 2018 and 2022 found that only 96 met ICAO’s 12-month recommendation, with just 31 published within a year and 58 taking between one and three years.
