• Source:JND
Add as a preferred

Ahmedabad Plane Crash: A day after an Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 12, which resulted in the deaths of 241 passengers on board and 33 people on the ground, the airline decided to discontinue flight number AI 171 and replace it with flight number AI 159, according to officials familiar with the matter on Friday.

“The flight from Ahmedabad to Gatwick [London] will be re-numbered to AI 159. The return flight, too, will be changed to AI160," an official said, requesting anonymity. “The change will start to reflect soon," the official said, according to a News18 report.

ALSO READ: Ahmedabad Air India Plane Crash: Air Hostess’s Body Recovered From Tail, Black Box Retrieved

This follows the crash of a London-bound flight on Thursday afternoon, moments after takeoff, carrying 242 people, including 12 crew members. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who visited the crash site, confirmed that only one person survived. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed into a medical college hostel, causing a significant loss of life. Official casualty figures have yet to be released.

“The idea behind changing the number of a flight is to avoid triggering trauma or bad memories," a former airline official said. “It is also a way to disassociate the route from the tragedy in the minds of passengers and travellers," this person said, according to a News18 report. 

Previous Instances Of Flight Renumbering

The most recent case of an airline renumbering a flight occurred in 2014 after the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, which operated the Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route. Following the incident, the flight was renumbered to MH318. MH370 vanished from radar on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with passengers on board.

Lion Air Flight Renumbering

Similarly, Lion Air changed the flight number from JT610 to JT618 after the tragic crash of the original flight. On October 29, 2018, JT610, carrying 181 passengers and eight crew members, crashed into the Java Sea just 13 minutes after takeoff, resulting in the deaths of all 189 people on board.

Former pilots described the Boeing 787 as one of the safest fleets in operation. “Such accidents are extremely rare to take place. It is difficult to understand the cause of the accident by looking at the visuals out in the public domain," a former pilot said, requesting anonymity.

The aircraft took off at 1:38 pm carrying nearly a full load of 125,000 litres of fuel. Shortly after takeoff, it began a slow descent while still with its landing gear deployed, before crashing and exploding. According to Flightradar24 data, the twin-engine plane had reached an altitude of 625 feet and was traveling at a speed of 174 knots.

“An IndiGo flight that was lined up, aborted take-off after its pilot suspected issues with the Air India take off," an official said.

“The pilot reportedly heard some unusual noise while taking off before noticing the fire," an official of the Ahmedabad airport said. 

ALSO READ: Boeing vs Airbus: How World's Two Leading Aircraft Manufacturers Are Different From Each Other; Key Points

“Yesterday was all about rescue efforts. We have begun collecting material evidence today," AAIB said. 

“Various theories are being discussed, but clarity on the sequence of events and the initial cause of the crash will only be determined after analysing the evidence," the investigation team said.