N Chandrasekaran says one of the engines on the plane is new

The airline chairman said one of the engines of the Air India plane crashed last week was new, while the other would not be repaired until December.

N Chandrasekaran said in an interview with India News Channel that both engines of the aircraft have a history of “cleanness”.

“The right engine is the new engine in March 2025. The left engine was last repaired in 2023 and the next maintenance check was underway in December 2025,” he told the Times.

Last Thursday, there were at least 270 people, most of them passengers, when London’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner AI171 took off from Ahmedabad Airport in western India.

Now, investigators are sifting debris and decode recorded flight data and cockpit audio – from the aircraft’s The black box found – Deconstructing the last moments of the flight and Determine the cause of the event.

“There are a lot of speculation and a lot of theories. But so far, I know this particular aircraft is the history of this particular tail, AI171,” said Mr Chandrasekaran.

He added: “All the experts told me that the black box and the recorder will definitely tell the story. So we just have to wait for that.”

Kishore Chinta, a former investigator with the Indian Aircraft Accident Investigation Agency, told the BBC that the condition of the aircraft’s engine is not necessarily related to its age, especially in the case of the Genx-1b engine used on the Boeing 787-8.

“The age of the engine has nothing to do with the health of the engine, especially with the GenX-1B engine,” said Mr Chinta. In other words, just because the engine is new does not necessarily mean it is healthy and vice versa.

Unlike older models, GenX-1B engines made by GE Aerospace do not follow a fixed overhaul or maintenance schedule. Instead, they were equipped with a system called “full authorized” digital engine control or FADEC that continuously monitors the health and performance of the engine. The decision to serve or replace the engine is based on this data and physical checks.

However, Mr Chinta notes that some components of the engine, called Life Limited Parts (LLP), usually have a life span between 15,000 and 20,000 cycles.

“Every starting point and closing of the engine counts as a cycle,” he explained.

Although the investigation continues, Air India also announced that it was struggling with the crash until mid-July, with its international operations reaching 15%.

The airline said in a statement released Wednesday that the decision was driven by “complexity” – including enhanced safety inspections, caution among crew and ground staff, and tensions in the Middle East.

The airline said that among its 33 Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 aircraft, inspections have been completed, all of which have been “cleared into service”.

India’s aviation regulator has ordered additional security checks on Air India’s Boeing 787 fleet as a “precautionary measure” after the fatal crash.

Air India said the remaining aircraft are expected to be inspected in the coming days, adding that the airline’s Boeing 777 fleet will also “conduct enhanced safety inspections.”

“The cuts are a painful measure, but there are measures that are necessary after the anomalous combination of devastating events and external events that we are still working on,” it said.

Meanwhile, some experts say that a crash may be The impact on Air India attempts to change From a troubled state-owned carrier to a private company.

Tata’s son is a conglomerate that also owns big brands such as Teteri Tea and Jaguar Land Rover, bringing the Indian government’s airline from the Indian government in 2022.

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