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The wrecked red and white tail section of the Air India plane among trees and the side of a building.
The tail section of the Air India Boeing 787-8 which crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad. Photo: Zuma Press / Alamy
LEADERSHIP
Friday 25th July 2025

Air India crash: what are the lessons for crisis communicators?

Air crashes follow an inevitable and predictable pattern of events, including stories of miraculous escapes. Airlines must begin communicating very quickly but it's crucial that crisis communications plans are followed.

On June 12, news of the Air India flight AI171 crash spread round the world at breakneck speed. The flight had departed from Ahmedabad a little over a minute earlier on its way to London Gatwick. It had full tanks of fuel when it plunged into a student hostel, creating an inevitable inferno.

It was obvious that this was a mass fatality tragedy with an eventual grim death toll of 270. Numbers such as this are difficult for us to comprehend. It’s thankfully out of our everyday experience. It’s the individual stories of those on board, such as an entire young family wiped out, that begin to help us to understand the real-life consequences of what has happened.

Air crashes lead news bulletins for many reasons. Most of us fly. Many of us quietly harbour a fear of flying, unjustified by the statistics, but understandable nonetheless. But it’s the individual stories of those on board which capture our thoughts. We stop thinking about numbers and begin to see that those on board were people like us.

A story of a miraculous escape was quickly to follow with news of a British man, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who was on board and had walked away from the scene, largely unscathed, the only survivor. It was a brief moment of joy for him, as he was to discover that his brother had perished on the flight.

The news developing from the AI171 crash followed a similar pattern to all major air incidents. Reports of a crash, confirmation of large scale loss of life, stories of miraculous escapes, including those who should have been on the flight, but missed it, always follow.

There are then the anguished questions led by the loved ones of those on board. A demand for answers. Why? Who is responsible? But inevitably, the most urgent and heartfelt plea is for the human remains of their loved ones to be returned.

Air India established a family reception centre for loved ones, and assigned trained staff members to support them. 

Explaining to them that the return of their loved ones will take time because of the identification and forensic processes, is one of the hardest things they will be asked to do. This is never what loved ones want to hear.

It emerged last week that the highly experienced West London Coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, had determined that at least one family had received human remains which were not of their loved ones.

It is impossible to overestimate the distress this will cause all of the families of those who died. There are a range of agencies involved in identification and repatriation of human remains after a mass fatality incident, and the coroner will continue to investigate. There will also be diplomatic exchanges at a high level between the UK and India.

In the meantime, it’s likely that funerals will be put on hold. In the UK they cannot take place until the coroner consents. 

The family support teams led by Air India will be facing the toughest challenge imaginable in trying to support those who lost a loved one. It is a severe example of what an airline may face following an incident. What has happened in this case should not have happened. Sadly, there are instances in the past where it has. Air India is not responsible for the forensic identification of the human remains of those who perished. But their duty is to support loved ones and keep them informed of developments.

Are there lessons for crisis communicators from the Air India crash?

First, all crises are predictable. In aircraft incidents which result in mass fatality, there are a series of events which will follow. The needs of the loved ones will also follow a familiar pattern. Although there are religious and cultural differences, these seldom call for the crisis statement book to be rewritten. And there are the needs of anxious customers who are flying with the airline. They need information and reassurance.

Air crashes follow an inevitable and predictable pattern of events, including stories of miraculous escapes. 

Airlines have in their crisis plan a series of pre-cleared statements and scripts which can be rapidly adjusted in a crisis and issued quickly. Carriers must begin communicating very quickly – certainly within 30 minutes of an incident – if they are to regain control of their narrative. Airlines have been doing this for years.

My colleague Kevin Johnston, a 9/11 veteran based at Heathrow with a global reputation in airline comms, puts it like this: “You have your crisis plan and it’s important you follow it. Avoid unnecessary distractions, always ensuring you do the right thing.”

In a crisis, we use statements to help to exert control. If you are in control, you are not in a crisis. You must display competence - this is not just about the content of your communications, but also the delivery of it. And it’s of supreme importance you show compassion. This does not mean emoting. There’s no place for executive tears in public.

An aviation crisis follows such a familiar pattern each time that the aviation body IATA includes sample statements in their excellent aircraft incident crisis guide. Many airlines have adopted these. A mass fatality incident is not the moment for original writing or to display erudition. You say it simply, you say it with feeling and you say it everywhere you can.

Crisis grandstanding

There was an unattractive pile-on from some journalists and PRs over the Air India CEO’s videocast after the crash. The script was extremely closely modelled (and almost identical in long parts) to an excellent videocast by American Airlines CEO Robert Isom after the American Eagle crash in the US last January. Mr Isom’s videocast was very widely praised. Many airlines reviewed their own scripts. A number of CEOs asked for autocue training. Emulation is the sincerest form of flattery and I doubt Mr Isom was offended when Air India used so much of his language. 

Perhaps Air India might have made the script a little more their own. I do not know what happened behind the scenes. Air India, a high quality and competent airline, has to some extent ploughed their own furrow in comms in the complex market in which they operate. But was the videocast sincere? In my view it was.

I’m always somewhat non-plussed by the habit of some to use a crisis to grand stand (I’ve been on the receiving end of it myself). I’m not sure what we learned from the Air India criticism. Perhaps we might, as professionals, support each other a little more, and when we criticise, to do so with thought. And please, not in the middle of the crisis.

The emergence of miracle escapes, such as that of Mr Ramesh, are an important part of the media narrative after a mass fatality incident. They give us hope amidst appalling loss of life in violent circumstances.

Others include Juliane Koepcke who was found alive and alone after 11 days in the Peruvian rainforest after her plane was struck by lightning in 1971. Ninety-one others onboard were killed.

The media also look for stories of passengers who miss fatal flights, like Jaswant Basuta who was initially a suspect in the bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie because his luggage was loaded on to the aircraft but he arrived at the departure gate minutes after boarding had closed.

The media narrative of tragedy and miracles helps us to cope with the scale of loss.

It’s part of the media’s role to provide stories of miracles.  The role of crisis communicators is to provide information and facts and to do it rapidly.

Donald Steel is a global crisis communications practitioner. He was also formerly vice president of crisis communications at Kenyon International Emergency Services, the global responder to mass fatality incidents and was for 11 years the chief media spokesman at the BBC.

Further reading

Three top crisis communications lessons from a disaster manager
How to run a crisis press conference
This is not just any crisis comms email, this is an M&S crisis comms email