Air India has been offering an additional cash settlement of Rs 10 lakh for the families of victims of the June 2025 Ahmedabad plane crash if they decide to forgo their right to file cases against the airline and other manufacturing companies, documents reviewed by The Quint show.
Following the London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crash on 12 June 2025, which claimed the lives of 241 people on board and 19 on the ground, Air India announced an interim payment of Rs 25 lakh for the families of the plane crash victims. This was in addition to the ex gratia payment of Rs 1 crore pledged by the Tata Group, which owns Air India.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, a number of lawsuits had been brought against Air India and Boeing, alleging culpability and demanding accountability for the incident.
However, documents reveal that the airline is now offering extra compensation for affected families, including those injured in the crash, if they sign an indemnity document giving up their right to sue Air India, Boeing Company, General Electric Company, GE Aerospace, Safran SA, Safran Electronics & Defense, Avionics USA LLC, and Honeywell International Inc.
'Full, Final Settlement': What the Document Says
In the documents, the victims' families are referred to as "Releasors" and the companies concerned as "Indemnified".
Upon accepting the additional amount, the document states that the Releasors will...
"Hereby irrevocably and forever release, discharge...(the) Indemnified and hold harmless the indemnified against any and all of our claims...in connection with the subject accident and confirm that the Indemnified are subrogated to all the rights and remedies previously available to us."
It further states that the victims' families will acknowledge and agree that the payment of the settlement sum (Rs 10 lakh) constitutes a "full, final, and complete release" and discharge of rights, claims, and actions against the concerned companies.
Surprisingly, the "Indemnified" also included the Union of India, including the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Airports Authority of India (AAI), and the Ahmedabad International Airport Limited. However, it wasn't immediately clear how Air India could claim the right to speak on behalf of the Indian government.
Of the 260 deceased in the plane crash, 53 were British nationals, seven were Portuguese, and one was Canadian. Lawsuits have also been filed against the airline in a London court as well as in the US, where four affected families have sued Boeing and Honeywell, alleging that the accident resulted from faulty fuel switches made by the latter.
However, the document makes clear that upon accepting the additional payment, the agreement will be fully binding and enforceable "irrespective of the forum, place, country or jurisdiction in which any such claim demand, action or proceeding is brought or pursued".
Further, it states that if any person, including but not limited to any member of the family, decides to take legal action in the future, it would be the sole responsibility of the signatory to deal with such persons and resolve the matter, without any reference to the concerned companies.
"We agree and acknowledge that the Indemnified shall not be liable in any manner whatsoever for any such claim or demand," the document asks the affected families to affirm.
Ayush Dubey, a laywer at US-based firm Chionuma Law, which is representing over 100 affected families of crash victims, says that the airline has already started doling out settlement offers.
"We at Chionuma Law represent more than one hundred families in AI 171 Crash who lost loved ones in the Air India crash. Out of our 100 clients, three families have already received settlement offers of this nature from Air India," he tells The Quint.
(The Quint has reached out to Air India's corporate communications team. This article will be updated as and when they respond.)
(With inputs from freelance journalist Kuldip Ishrani)