Over 200 Air India staff sent to sites for support work

Air India and its parent Tata Sons have quickly mobilised support systems to help affected families and ensure on-ground coordination for emergency work following Thursday's tragic plane crash.

Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran described the incident as "one of the darkest days in the Tata Group's history."

"Words are no consolation right now, but my thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the people who died and were injured in the crash. We are here for them," he said in a note to employees, reviewed by ET.

The chairman stressed that the company is fully committed to understanding what went wrong. "We want to understand what happened. We don't know right now, but we will," he said, adding that investigative teams from India, the UK, and the US have already arrived in Ahmedabad to probe the crash.

"They have our full cooperation, and we will be completely transparent about the findings," he said.

Air India, along with Tata Sons, has deployed a "core team" and an "angel team" at all key sites, including the crash site, hospitals, and the DNA identification centre, "to assist with on-ground coordination and provide support to the affected families," a person familiar with the matter said.

More than 200 Air India employees have been mobilised across these locations to "ensure seamless assistance" to families and coordinate emergency work, another person said.

A third person said, "The airline has also arranged five hotels, including Tata group properties, to house the families and next of kin, providing them with immediate care and logistical support, completely free of cost."

The Tata Group's hospitality arm IHCL has Taj, Ginger and Vivanta hotels in Ahmedabad.

The Tata Group, Chandrasekaran said in his note to employees, takes its responsibility to society seriously. "That includes being open about what occurred yesterday."

He urged patience and cautioned against jumping to conclusions while the investigation is still underway. "There is plenty of speculation all around us. Some of it may be right, some of it may be wrong. I want to urge patience," he said.

Chandrasekaran reminded employees that when Tata took over Air India, safety of passengers was the group's top priority. "There was no compromise on it," he said. "We built this group on trust and care. It is a difficult moment, but we will not retreat from our responsibilities, from doing what is right. We will carry this loss. We will not forget."