By Abhijith Ganapavaram and Allison Lampert
NEW DELHI/MONTREAL, May 26 (Reuters) - Indian officials investigating last year's deadly Air India crash are preparing an interim report rather than a final one ahead of the anniversary of the Boeing 787 accident that killed 260 people, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
The interim report from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) will be "more comprehensive" than the preliminary report put out last July and will examine possible
primary causes and other contributing factors, the person said.
The 15-page preliminary report into the aviation industry's deadliest disaster in a decade showed the Dreamliner's engine fuel switches flipped almost simultaneously and starved the engines of fuel shortly after the flight from Ahmedabad to London took off on June 12, 2025.
A cockpit recording of dialogue between the two pilots supported the view that the captain cut the flow of fuel to the plane's engines, according to U.S. officials' early assessment reported by Reuters last year. The AAIB said at the time it was "too early to reach any definite conclusions".
By releasing an interim report, Indian authorities will not be required to share the findings ahead of time with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is participating in the investigation because the aircraft was designed and manufactured in the United States. The NTSB would be allowed to comment on a final report, which could also provide more closure for the crash victims' family members.
The final report will not be ready by the crash anniversary because "it is a very complex investigation and is taking time," said the person, adding the interim report still needed to be submitted to government authorities and the timing of a final report remained unclear.
A second source with knowledge of the matter also said investigators were still working on the probe and needed more time. Both sources spoke on condition of anonymity as the internal workings of the investigation are private.
Under international rules, a final report is due within a year of an accident but sometimes investigations take longer, so if that is not completed, an interim statement should be issued on each anniversary.
The AAIB, India's civil aviation ministry and Air India did not respond to emails seeking comment. AAIB chief GVG Yugandhar also did not respond to calls and messages seeking comment.
CONSULTATION PROCESS
The U.N. aviation agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), sets out a consultation process with participating states for draft final reports, with a usual 30-day comment period extendable to 60 days. The same process does not apply to interim statements.
Montreal-based ICAO and the U.S. NTSB, which is supporting the probe, declined to comment. Boeing, which is a technical adviser to the investigation, referred Reuters to the AAIB for comment.
In the case of a March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crash, Ethiopian investigators issued a detailed interim report within a year, but did not issue the final report until December 2022 even though the NTSB first received a draft copy in January 2021. The NTSB later released a public critique of aspects of the Ethiopian report.
LONDON FUEL SWITCH INCIDENT
The preparations for the Air India interim statement come amid a separate ongoing inquiry into fuel switches that were reported as possibly defective by pilots of an Air India Dreamliner flight from London to Bengaluru in February this year.
In that incident, the pilots observed during the engine start that the fuel switches did not remain fixed in the "run" position on the first two attempts when light vertical pressure was applied but were stable on a third try before takeoff. They reported the incident on landing in India.
Officials from India's aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), plan to travel in June to Seattle to observe Boeing's testing of the switches, described by Indian officials as "sensitive" in confidential emails, Reuters reported last week.
The visit has renewed the spotlight on the switches, which are central to last year's crash investigation. Some investigators involved in the Air India crash probe were not aware of the DGCA's planned Seattle visit, the first person said.
Boeing has said it is "supporting" Air India in that matter, while UK authorities, who are also looking into the incident, have said their review is ongoing.
The DGCA did not respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram in New Delhi and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Aditya Kalra and Jamie Freed)
