Air India cancels at least EIGHT international Boeing Dreamliner flights just days after crash that killed 270 people
Air India has axed eight planned plane journeys following the crash that killed 270 people.
The firm's Gatwick-bound plane carrying 242 passengers, including 53 British nationals, crashed just moments after take-off from Ahmedabad Airport in the northwestern Indian state of Gujarat.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner careened back down to earth in the densely populated Meghani area of the city just minutes after leaving the runway around 1.40pm local time (8.10am BST) last Thursday.
Now planes earmarked to travel for Air India between Paris, Vienna and Dubai have been called off - and authorities have also begun inspecting Air India's entire fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said.
Factors involved include unavailability of aircraft, technical problems, airspace restrictions and extended safety checks, the Guardian reported.
Meanwhile, another Air India flight on the same route as the plane that crashed last week has been cancelled because of 'precautionary checks', the airline said.
Flight AI159 was planned to depart Ahmedabad, India, at 1.10pm local time on Tuesday, and arrive at London Gatwick airport at 6.25pm BST.
Air India's website shows the flight was initially delayed by one hour and 50 minutes but was later cancelled.
A flight from Gatwick to Amritsar, India, set to depart at 8pm BST was also axed.
The cancelled flights were scheduled to be operated by a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which is the same type of aircraft that crashed shortly after take-off at Ahmedabad last Thursday.
An Air India spokesperson said: 'Flight AI 159 from Ahmedabad to Gatwick has been cancelled today due to the unavailability of the aircraft,.
That was aid to be resulting from airspace restrictions and additional precautionary checks, leading to longer than usual turnaround of aircraft, and not due to any technical snag as claimed.
'We regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers and have made alternative arrangements to fly them to their destination.'
The airline said affected passengers are being offered hotel accommodation and full refunds or rescheduling.
Last week's crash was one of the deadliest plane accidents in terms of the number of British nationals killed.
The Air India aircraft struck a medical college hostel in a residential part of Ahmedabad, killing 241 of the 242 people on board, 52 of whom were British.
The sole surviving passenger was UK national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh.
Among the victims were Akeel Nanawaba, Hannaa Vorajee and their daughter Sarah, 4, Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek, Javed Ali Syed, his wife and two children, Raxa Modha, her grandson Rudra and her daughter-in-law Yasha Kamdar, and Ajaykumar Ramesh, the brother of the tragedy's only survivor.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh (pictured), who was seated in 11A, is British and told the Hindustan Times he had lived in London for 20 years.
His brother Ajaykumar accompanied him on the flight and was sat on the other side of the aisle in seat 11J, but he sadly perished in the fireball explosion.
Among the other victims were Akeel Nanawaba, 36, his wife Hannaa Vorajee, 30, and their daughter Sarah, four, who had been flying home from a five-day family celebration when the Dreamliner crashed.
The successful young couple ran a global recruitment agency with offices in Ahmedabad and Gloucester.
Their shocked business partner Shoyeb Khan Nagori told MailOnline: 'I had dinner with them last night. They were a lovely family and Akeel and his wife were extremely successful people.'
Mr Nagori said he was too upset to find the words to describe their daughter Sarah who had spent time with her grandfather during the brief visit.
He said: 'They were here to celebrate a family festival and to spend some time with Akeel's father.
'Akeel was a really good man, I'm in shock, we were all having dinner together the night before.'
Mr Nagori was with hundreds of other relatives of crash victims waiting for updates at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad.
He founded recruitment company Iceberg Outsourcing Services with Mr Nanbawa, who was the managing director.
Javed Ali Syed, a hotel manager at the Best Western Kensington Olympia Hotel and his wife Mariam were also passengers on the fallen Air India Flight 171 this morning/
A video posted to social media appeared to show the plane descending in a controlled manner with a high nose angle and landing gear deployed/
The aircraft momentarily disappeared from view behind trees and buildings.
Recently widowed Raxa Modha, 55, her grandson two-year-old Rudra, and her daughter-in-law Yasha Kamdar are all believed to have been onboard the ill-fated airliner.
Mrs Modha had been in India for some time fulfilling the dying wish of her ill husband Kishor who had wanted to live out his last days in his homeland.
Following his recent passing, the mother-of-three was returning with her family to their home in Northamptonshire when disaster struck this morning.
In a twist of fate, Kishan Modha – the toddler's father and Raxa's son – had also been in India but was not on the flight as he was due to catch another tomorrow.
Speaking to MailOnline, a family friend said: 'It's incredibly sad, the whole family is already grieving Kishor's death.
Air hostess Nganthoi Sharma Kongbrailatpam was named by local media as being on board the ill-fated Flight 171/
Neighbours at her family's detached home in Wellingborough said Mrs Modha is a 'lovely lady'.
They said she had been in India for an extended period to support her husband who was battling an illness.
The mayor for Wellingborough, Raj Mishra offered his condolences to the family on a post on Facebook adding it was devastating for the local community.
'I extend my deepest condolences to their families, friends, and all those affected by this heartbreaking event,' he added.
Aviation experts say that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner may have suddenly lost power 'at the most critical phase of flight' after takeoff.
The possible causes are believed to include a rapid change in wind or a bird strike leading to a double engine stall.
Officials from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau are now at the scene to carry out an analysis of the wreckage and retrieve the stricken jet's black box.
Videos shows the aircraft rapidly losing altitude - with its nose up - before it hit a building and erupted in a violent explosion.
At first, the plane appears to be descending in a controlled manner with a high nose angle and landing gear deployed.
It then briefly disappears from view behind trees and buildings before a massive fireball suddenly erupts on the horizon.
A huge trail of smoke can subsequently be seen billowing from the crash site.
Other video clips show a huge cloud of black smoke filling the sky as distressed onlookers gather in the streets of the Indian city as chaos unfolds.
Footage also showed chunks of the plane's fuselage and tail protruding from a demolished building.
Firefighters at the scene doused the smouldering piles of debris with their hoses as photos and videos taken by horrified residents in Meghani showed a huge plume of thick black smoke emanating from the crash site.
The flight reportedly reached an altitude of just 625 feet before it began to descend, according to flight tracking service Flightradar 24,.
The organisation said the plane's transponder signal dropped just seconds after it left the runway.
Flightradar 24 added: ''We received the last signal from the aircraft at 08:08:51 UTC, just seconds after take off.'
India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation said the plane sent a mayday call moments before the crash.
Air India's chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran shared a statement that read: 'With profound sorrow I confirm that Air India Flight 171 operating Ahmedabad London Gatwick was involved in a tragic accident yesterday.
'It is very disappointing that it is a Dreamliner as it is a state-of-the-art Boeing. We cannot rule out security issues. But this is all speculation on my part.'
'Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones of all those affected by this devastating event
'At this moment, our primary focus is on supporting all the affected people and their families.
'We are doing everything in our power to assist the emergency response teams at the site and to provide all necessary support and care to those impacted.'
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