‘Seen many crises, nothing like this': Air India chairman Chandrasekaran on plane crash
Tata Sons chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran on Monday said that he had seen many crises, adding that the Ahmedabad plane crash was the 'most heartbreaking' of his career.
Chandrasekaran said this while speaking to Air India staff, according to sources cited in a PTI news agency report. His statement comes days after the plane crash in Ahmedabad, which led to the deaths of 241 of the 242 people onboard and reportedly 29 on ground. One passenger had a miraculous escape after the crash.
Air India on Saturday announced an interim payment of ₹25 lakh to the affected families. The aid, announced by Air India CEO and managing Director Campbell Wilson, is in addition to the ₹1 crore compensation announced earlier by Air India for the families of the victims.
Tata Sons and Air India Chairman N Chandrasekaran on Monday urged airline's employees to stay on course in the wake of the airline's plane crash in Ahmedabad last week, terming the accident the most "heartbreaking" crisis of his career, according to sources cited in the PTI report.
Addressing close to 700 employees and the leadership team across the Air India headquarters and Air India Training Academy in Gurugram, Chandrasekaran said the employees need to show resilience and use this incident as an act of force to build a "safer airline".
"We have to make sure that we stay the course. Be more determined in everything we do. We need to wait for the investigation to find out," the sources quoted Chandrasekaran as saying.
"I've 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.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner lost altitude under a minute after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport, crashing into the hostel of the BJ Medical College.
Air India CEO Wilson had earlier said that families of the victims were also granted access to trained caregivers, who would provide them with "dedicated assistance, counselling and other such services.
He also said that the airline's teams were working with the authorities and the families to provide assistance in the reunification process.
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