Families of Air India Flight 171 crash victims file lawsuit against Boeing and Honeywell for negligence

United States: The families of four deceased passengers, who died in the June 12, 2025 Air India Flight 171 air crash, have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. on Tuesday against the companies Boeing and Honeywell that made the plane and its parts, while accusing them of negligence.

The BBC has confirmed that the lawsuit which has been filed states that the faulty fuel switches of the aircraft caused the accident, which resulted in the deaths of 260 people. While accusing the companies they mentioned that both the companies ‘Boeing and Honeywell’ did nothing even though they were aware about the risks associated with the aircraft's designs.

They also said they are still doing nothing to change the design of the aircrafts after knowing the risks of the aircraft’s design and taking adequate measures to prevent the catastrophe. The plaintiffs, who are the citizens of India as well as the nationals of the United Kingdom claimed that the companies knew about the risk of the crash and yet failed to warn the airline about it, so they could have repaired the fuel switches or taken precautionary measures.

The families further argued that the positioning of the fuel switches in the cockpit made them prone to being inadvertently triggered, which  further "effectively guaranteed that the normal cockpit activity could result in inadvertent fuel cutoff."

The preliminary investigation report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) stated that the fuel switches were automatically moved from "run" to "cut-off" position, which hampered the thrust of the plane. But the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has stated that there was nothing wrong with the switches and did not cause the air crash.

Further after the lawsuit was filed the media houses have tried to contact both the companies for their response related to the case, but the United States plane manufacturer didn’t say anything related to the case but pointed at the preliminary investigation report which was prepared by the India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).

A detailed report related to the aircraft crash is expected to be presented sometime in 2026.