Boeing has sent a team of experts to India to offer assistance in the state-led investigation into the Air India crash in Ahmedabad, with U.K. and U.S. officials also arriving in the city.
The Guardian reports that unexplained descent of the Boeing 787 plane immediately after takeoff has cast fresh shadows over the U.S. aircraft manufacturer, although the well-established Dreamliner model has been in operation for more than a decade.
Boeing has pulled out of this week’s Paris airshow, which is traditionally an important event for aircraft manufacturers to announce big orders. Bloomberg reported June 16 that Airbus SE announced at the show two orders from Saudi Arabian customers valued at as much as $17 billion, giving the European planemaker an early lead over Boeing Co.
The company’s chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, and Stephanie Pope, head of its commercial planes division, told staff in a message on the evening of June 12 that they had cancelled plans to attend the event “so we can be with our team and focus on our customer and the investigation.”
In a public statement, Ortberg said the Boeing team “stands ready to support” the investigation being led by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) as work continues to ascertain the cause of the crash.
