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Speaker 1: This is a breaking news update from Bloomberg instant reaction

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Speaker 1: and analysis from our three thousand journalists and analysts around

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Speaker 1: the world. We continue to follow the developing story in

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Speaker 1: India and Air India jet headed for London's Gatwick Airport

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Speaker 1: has crashed in western India. Bloomberg's John Tucker has the

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Speaker 1: very latest.

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Speaker 2: John, Yeah, this is a seven eighty seven Dreamliner aircraft

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Speaker 2: Nathan flight AI one seventy one, as you said, traveling

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Speaker 2: from Akmadabad Airport in India to Gatwick crash shortly after takeoff. Now,

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Speaker 2: footage from the scene this morning shows very little that's

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Speaker 2: even recognizable, so we can say unlikely anybody on the

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Speaker 2: plane survived. Probably It also appears to have hit a

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Speaker 2: residential building, so people on the ground may have been injured.

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Speaker 2: There is also video that shows the aircraft with its

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Speaker 2: landing gear still extended shortly after takeoff and then slowly

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Speaker 2: descending before explode into a huge fireball. Now the airliner

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Speaker 2: had reached out to six hundred and twenty five feet

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Speaker 2: this according to data from flight Trader, this is a

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Speaker 2: seven eighty seven Dreamliner wide body twin engine plane. This

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Speaker 2: is the first crash ever of a Boeing seven eighty

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Speaker 2: seven aircraft. That's, at least according to the Aviation Safety

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Speaker 2: Network Database, the seven eighty seven, of course, the company's

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Speaker 2: most advanced in service aircraft. It's popular with airlines because

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Speaker 2: it's more fuel efficient thanks to lightweight composite materials, and

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Speaker 2: this particular aircraft was almost twelve years old, part of

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Speaker 2: the Air India's fleet of about thirty four Boeing seven

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Speaker 2: eighty sevens. The airline itself in the middle of a

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Speaker 2: strategic turnaround that includes a big aircraft order, and as

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Speaker 2: soon as we get further details on this, we'll bring

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Speaker 2: it to you immediately right here on Bloomberg Radio. Nathan.

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Speaker 1: Joining us now is Bloomberg News Chief Global Aviation correspondent

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Speaker 1: Sid Philip and Sid. As we continue to gather details

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Speaker 1: on this crash, it seems as though it's becoming increasingly grim.

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Speaker 1: What is the very latest that you can tell us now?

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Speaker 3: Good morning, Good morning. So we're trying to figure out

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Speaker 3: what the matest is in terms of what the reasons

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Speaker 3: for the crash are. But we do know that there

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Speaker 3: were two hundred and forty two people on board, including

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Speaker 3: the crew. We do know that one hundred and sixty

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Speaker 3: nine of them were Indian citizens and there were also

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Speaker 3: some fifty something UK citizens on board, and we're still

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Speaker 3: waiting to see what the casualty numbers are and if

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Speaker 3: there were any survivors. It looks unlikely there were any survivors.

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Speaker 3: We're also trying to figure out what the casualties on

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Speaker 3: the ground was because we understand that the aircraft crashed

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Speaker 3: into a residential building and with some reports from the

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Speaker 3: local government saying that it was a doctor's residence. So

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Speaker 3: it does seem like a very very very very tragic

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Speaker 3: accident at the moment, and we will try and find

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Speaker 3: out the details in terms of what really went wrong

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Speaker 3: with the aircraft. I mean, this is the first ever

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Speaker 3: fatal accident for the seven eighty seven. I mean, this

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Speaker 3: is a technologically advanced aircraft. This is going flagship at

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Speaker 3: the moment in terms of being able to be very

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Speaker 3: it's very carbon fiber aircraft with very advanced technology. And

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Speaker 3: so this is a very big glow for the aircraft

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Speaker 3: program because we haven't seen a fatal crash of it

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Speaker 3: so far.

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Speaker 1: And it's coming at a time, of course, when Boeing

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Speaker 1: is in the midst of a turnaround plan. And we

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Speaker 1: remember all the issues surrounding the automation technology on board

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Speaker 1: some of Boeing's most advanced aircraft. Based on what we

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Speaker 1: know so far in terms of the footage that's come out,

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Speaker 1: what can we ascertain as to what potentially could have

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Speaker 1: caused this set.

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Speaker 3: At the moment, it's still too I mean, we do

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Speaker 3: know that the plane crashed shortly after takeoff, so it

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Speaker 3: was according to flight Raighter twenty four data, it was

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Speaker 3: only six hundred and twenty five feet in the air

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Speaker 3: when it crashed. So it does seem like it has

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Speaker 3: happened shortly after takeoff. And we don't really know the

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Speaker 3: reasons in terms of what went wrong, but something went

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Speaker 3: catastrophically wrong for the aircraft to crash. We do know

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Speaker 3: that this aircraft was older seven eighty seven, It was

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Speaker 3: twelve years almost twelve years old. It had been in

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Speaker 3: Erandia's fleet since twenty the end of twenty thirteen, and

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Speaker 3: so essentially we're trying to figure out what really went

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Speaker 3: on with the aircraft. I mean, this is obviously Boeing

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Speaker 3: and aer India are in the midst of a turnaround.

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Speaker 3: I mean, Boeing has been under lot of scrutiny as

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Speaker 3: you mentioned for the seven three seven Max, which is

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Speaker 3: a different aircraft, but there's been a lot of pressure

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Speaker 3: on Boeing to up its manufacturing quality and processes. But

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Speaker 3: this aircraft obviously has been in service for a while now,

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Speaker 3: and India at the same time is also in the

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Speaker 3: midst of a turnaround effort. It was state owned for

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Speaker 3: many many years and it's finally it's been privatized under

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Speaker 3: the Tata Group, and Tata Group announced massive expansion plans

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Speaker 3: for the airline, including the over five hundred plane order

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Speaker 3: from both Airbus and Boeing. They're revitalizing their fleet, they're

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Speaker 3: revitalizing their destinations, and they are sort of this would

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Speaker 3: be a massive blow to those efforts because the airline

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Speaker 3: has been sort of talking up the efforts to increase services,

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Speaker 3: increase destinations, add more capacity, and so this will sort

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Speaker 3: of make them pause and sort of just make everyone

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Speaker 3: look at say what real he went wrong and as

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Speaker 3: certain the causes and then try and make amends on that.

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Speaker 1: Of course, air safety incidents like this are so rare

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Speaker 1: around the world, but what is the air safety record

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Speaker 1: like in India set.

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Speaker 3: So this is the this is the worst aviation accident

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Speaker 3: over in almost three decades, so, I mean the last

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Speaker 3: major crash that had a similar death doll was back

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Speaker 3: in nineteen ninety six, so this is again a very

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Speaker 3: rare incident. India's got a fairly safe aviation environment and

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Speaker 3: they haven't had any aviation safety incidents in recent years.

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Speaker 3: But at the same time, I mean, aviation in general

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Speaker 3: has seen a lot of fatal accidents in recent years.

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Speaker 3: I mean, we obviously had the DC crash back in January,

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Speaker 3: and we've sort of had other fatal incidents, which is

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Speaker 3: kind to ascertain what really went wrong, but I mean,

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Speaker 3: there has been a spate of aviation incidents, so we

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Speaker 3: will wait to see what happened, all.

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Speaker 1: Right, Well, we'll continue monitoring the situation as well in

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Speaker 1: gathering more details. Thank you for this. Sid Philip, chief

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Speaker 1: global aviation correspondent for Bloomberg News with us this morning.