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Quest Means Business

Official: At Least 290 People Killed in Air India Crash; Air India Owner Pledges Support to Victims' Families, Injured; India to Lead Plane Crash Investigation; Air India Crash the First Fatal Accident Involving Boeing 787; Democratic U.S. Senator Forcibly Removed from News Conference. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired June 12, 2025 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[16:00:00]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Good evening. I am Richard Quest in London.

Tonight, the deadliest aviation disaster in a decade. Authorities now say at aviation disaster in a decade. Authorities now say at least 290 people

have been killed when an Air India plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad in Western India. It was flight 171. People on board, 242 going

from Ahmedabad to London, and it crashed barely 30 seconds after taking off from the airport.

It hit a hostel that was nearby that houses local doctors. Officials say that people on the ground have been killed as well. And yet, in the midst

of all of this tragedy, one piece of miraculous news, a British national aboard the plane somehow survived the crash. Here you see the Indian

Interior Minister who met Ramesh Viswashkumar at the hospital.

And now New Delhi says a fair and thorough investigation is underway. And until that concludes, questions, of course, linger on. A warning that some

of the video and some of the images you're going to see in our coverage tonight are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST (voice over): The Air India 787 was in the air for less than a minute. It crashed and burst into flames just after the runway in the

Indian city of Ahmedabad with all 242 passengers and crew on board. This is the first major incident involving the Boeing 787 Dreamliner since it was

introduced in 2011.

Emergency crews were met with colossal plumes of smoke, fuel fed fires indicative of the amount of fuel the London-bound jet had taken on board

needed to make the ten-hour journey.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): My sister was going to London. The plane crashed before she could get there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): My uncle was on the plane. As soon as I got here, we began trying to call his phone, but we were unable to

connect.

QUEST (voice over): India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the incident as heartbreaking beyond words. Amongst those on board were

passengers from at least four different countries -- India, the U.K., Portugal and Canada according to the airline.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation said the crew of Air India 171 did make a mayday call to air traffic control, but it is not known under

what circumstances. And data from FlightRadar24 shows that the aircrafts signal was lost less than a minute after takeoff. The maximum altitude

reached was 625 feet. Both key bits of information, as authorities begin the investigation into the causes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to do a fair and thorough investigation. We are not going to spare anyone. We are not going to leave any stone

unturned.

QUEST (voice over): Of great assistance will undoubtedly be this CCTV footage which shows the plane crashing. The landing gear is still down as

it plummets into a residential area and a hostel being used for medical students.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have evidently the flaps not deployed and the landing gear down, which increases the drag. So there are evidently a lot

of problems which made it difficult for this aircraft to take flight and hold altitude.

QUEST (voice over): The Dreamliner was specifically designed for what's known as long skinny routes. Those long haul destinations that can't

support high passenger numbers. Boeing says the 787 unlocked more than 425 new nonstop routes around the world, has carried more than a billion

passengers.

This incident comes at a time of major restructuring and growth for Air India, after it was privatized and bought by the country's multinational

conglomerate, The Tata Group in 2022.

Growth was something the airlines CEO spoke enthusiastically about when I met him last week in New Delhi.

CAMPBELL WILSON, CEO, AIR INDIA: So in addition to transforming the airline, we have had to build training academies. We have had to build

flight simulator academies, we've had to set up a flying training school. We are setting up a maintenance base and merge four airlines.

QUEST (voice over): Campbell Wilson told me safety was part of the focus of rebuilding Air India, which has seen a few rare, but high profile crashes

in recent times.

The enormous loss of life from Thursday's tragedy puts the airline once again under scrutiny. It will also lead to questions for Boeing, and the

investigators will be keen to know exactly how this aircraft performed at its crucial moments.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[16:05:06 ]

Now, there is that one piece of crucial video that I want to return to, because it shows the moment at which the plane takes off. It is CCTV video,

it is disturbing. And so here, let's go back and run that -- run that again from the beginning if possible so we can see how that comes.

So just freeze it there, and what you can see is the plane taking off and getting into the air. So it manages to get into the air. Now there is an

enormous amount of conversation about the fact that the landing gear is still up as it continues out, and then that you can't really see from this

perspective of the flaps and whether the flaps are actually up.

Carry on running the video and you can see how the plane does continue to climb and around about here, it seems to have some problem with lift and

this is where the aircraft now starts to come down. So just at that earlier point, a few seconds later.

In total, it is about 30s that it is in the air. This is now about 680 feet or so, give or take.

CNN's safety analyst, David Soucie is with me, former FAA safety inspector, and I guess we can spend a lot of time parsing on whether or not the flaps

are up or down. The gear is down. There is certainly no indication of a retraction of the gear, as one would expect at this sort of time, and there

is this definite moment where the aircraft starts, the power issue becomes quite prevalent and obvious.

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Yes. My question, Richard, is at V1, which is the decision point where you say as a pilot, we are far enough

through the runway that we can't stop, we have to continue. So what I would be looking at in the black boxes is at that point, when that decision was

made, what was going on? What was the configuration then? Were the flaps down? Were they up? Were the -- what was the situation with the landing

gear?

I am not too suspicious of the landing gear still being down because of the fact that the whole flight was maybe a minute at the most. So it is

possible, the landing gear hadn't been brought up because of the fact that they weren't actually in a sustained flight or sustained climb mode at that

point, which they should have been at that point. So something else went wrong. I don't think it was just strictly the flaps, but we will find out

as it goes along, I am sure.

QUEST: And then really, what is -- you know, at one level, it is only a certain number of things. This thing takes off, it does get into the air.

There will be questions about whether they use the whole runway. There will be questions about the heat, the weight, balance. It was a ten-hour flight.

Quite often this flight has to take a weight restriction on its payload.

But ultimately, a lot of the things that could have gone wrong, modern day aircraft, like trying to take off in the wrong flat configuration,

shouldn't really supposed to happen, because the thing won't let you do it.

SOUCIE: No, I mean, I was involved in the 787 planning and engineering phases back in the early 2000s and at that time, this aircraft has the most

sophisticated pieces and parts. It literally has indicators that tell you what the stress is on the wings as it lifts and that's fed into the black

box.

The amount of information that will be available is unprecedented in this accident, Richard. So we are going to get some good answers. But like you

said, if it was in the wrong configuration before you go to take off, it is going to -- everything is going to break lose. It is going to be screaming

at you and yelling at you in more than just one place. Audio, video, everything that can be thrown at you, will be. They won't let you take off

if it is not in the right configuration. That's why I am less suspicious about these flaps being up or down.

QUEST: Right.

SOUCIE: And you really can't tell from that CCTV video.

QUEST: So then we are looking at power, the failure of the power units, the G.E. engines, which of course we don't know. But they will -- the ability

to get the black boxes and because there wasn't -- there was certainly a very vicious fire, but there is no altitude, real altitude of injury in a

sense or damage. So it is likely that they will get the boxes and they will be able to be read out successfully.

SOUCIE: Yes, they most definitely will because those boxes are in the back in the tail section of the airplane. You can see in the videos in the

aftermath that that tail section is pretty well put together still. So that's where those boxes are. They should be very well preserved and ready

to be read, so I wouldn't be concerned about that at all.

But with regard to the site, I have some concerns about that because people are everywhere there. But go ahead, Richard. I am sorry.

QUEST: No, no I was -- they are, it is extraordinary.

[16:10:00]

David, this is a tricky question and one that I sort of try and avoid answering when people ask me it, but it is fair game, I think, to ask you,

since you're the expert.

At what point should our focus of attention be on the aircraft? This has, you know, besides the batteries at the beginning of the aircraft's life, it

has had an unblemished record. It is a workhorse. It is a phenomenal aircraft. Airlines absolutely adore the efficiency and the performance.

But at what point do we raise an eyebrow and start to question the aircraft?

SOUCIE: Well, that is a really good question. And every accident investigator asks themselves the same thing. But you really start with

people and then procedures and then parts. So that's kind of the order that I look at it.

But when you look at this aircraft, as you said, and its incredibly safe history, it is hard to think that something went wrong like that with these

engines or something along those lines. So I would definitely be looking at procedures and people first, but the aircraft is definitely something that

has to be looked at and that's where the black box comes in.

QUEST: David, I am grateful. There is a lot more that you and I will talk about in the days, weeks, and months ahead. Thank you, sir.

SOUCIE: Thank you.

QUEST: So Air India 171 was meant to arrive at London Gatwick Airport roughly three hours ago. At the airport, a reception center has been

established to provide information and support to those families who are turned up there. There were a total of 53 British nationals on board.

Nada Bashir is at Gatwick Airport.

I am guessing, history and experience, they are doing a very good job of ensuring that any relatives who turn up at the airport are sequestered away

relatively quickly.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Yes, absolutely. This is a matter that is being treated with the utmost privacy, of course, and members of the press have

been kept away from where we are expecting family members and loved ones to be arriving at that reception center, where they will be provided with

updates and support, of course, from the airport authorities and from officials within the airline.

And as you mentioned, Richard, among the 242 passengers and crew member on board were 53 British nationals and what we have seen throughout the day is

updates coming from U.K. officials, including the Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has said that he is keeping close contact with authorities in

India. The same can be said, of course, for the Foreign Office, which is closely coordinating with authorities in India. Also on the investigation,

as we understand it now, that an official probe has been launched by Indian authorities, the U.K. has said that it will be or has already dispatched an

air accident investigation team from the United Kingdom to support the investigation front.

But of course, this is a huge moment of devastation, of tragedy for those family members and loved ones who had been expecting to arrive at Gatwick

Airport this evening to meet with their loved ones. And of course, sadly, that is not the case.

What we do know is that there has remarkably been one survivor, at least from the wreckage of the plane. He is said to be a British national. We've

seen quotes cited by "The Hindustan Times," the survivor, Ramesh Vishwaskumar describing hearing a loud noise on the plane 30 seconds after

takeoff and then a loud noise and then the plane crashed and that it all happened so quickly.

What we've also heard in the last few hours is comment from a local member of Parliament here in the United Kingdom, in Leicester East, who has said

that he has spoken with survivor's family members. And again, he has described it as nothing short of a miracle. But he did also note that the

brother of this survivor was also on board that flight, and he is believed to have been killed.

QUEST: So now at the airport, I know its noisy. Where is this reception center? It is away from the terminal, is it? How are they identifying

passengers, relatives when they come to the airport?

BASHIR: Yes, so passengers have been provided or other relatives and family members have been provided with a hotline that they can reach out to in

order to get in contact with airport and airline officials to be notified by those updates. And this, of course, has been kept separate from where

press are being gathered here, just outside the north terminal.

There is no clarity actually around where this reception center is being established, and of course, it is up to family members and relatives as to

whether or not they do choose to come here to Gatwick Airport to receive that support face-to-face or whether they do rely on the hotline updates,

which has been offered not only by authorities here in the United Kingdom, but also by authorities in India.

[16:15:04]

And of course, we know that airline officials are also providing support. And, of course, the Foreign Office has said that it has set up crisis teams

in both Delhi and London as well.

QUEST: Nada Bashir, I am grateful at Gatwick Airport, as there is more to report, thank you.

Our coverage continues after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Returning to our top story, nearly 300 people reported dead after the Air India plane crashed shortly after takeoff. Those on board, mostly

Indian and British passengers. On X, Air India's owner, Tata Group, said it will provide the equivalent of more than $150,000.00 to each family of the

person who died as an interim measure, as well as medical expenses.

The chief executive of Air India, Campbell Wilson has released the following video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILSON: We are actively working with the authorities on all emergency response efforts. A special team of caregivers from Air India is on their

way to Ahmedabad to provide additional support.

The investigations will take time, but anything we can do now, we are doing. We know that many people are concerned for the welfare of their

loved ones. We have set up a special helpline that friends and family can reach us at.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Now, Keith Wolzinger is a commercial airline pilot and is with me now, familiar with the 777.

Youve obviously seen the video, Keith. The plane gets in the air, but the climb out just doesn't seem to be able to take place and there is this

moment where clearly it looks like a loss of power.

But from an early looking, what does it look like to you?

KEITH WOLZINGER, COMMERCIAL AIRLINE PILOT: Thank you, Richard.

The initial takeoff looks fairly normal. The takeoff roll looks normal. The rotation looks normal. The first 400 feet or so of the takeoff appears to

be normal and then the aircraft starts to sink. So that indicates either a loss of lift or a loss of thrust. So one of the two is occurring right at

the probably most critical point of the takeoff.

QUEST: The interesting thing in the question of thrust, of course, is to lose one engine, the other will easily do the job. This is -- looking at

the video, this is a wholesale loss of lift here, isn't it? And even if you look at the way -- it is not -- when I say it is controlled, the descent,

it is a sort of turn off the power and the thing slowly glides back down to earth, as opposed to some massive upset where the aircraft looks to have

been turned upside down, or in some upset situation.

[16:20:31]

WOLZINGER: Yes, well, it is clearly not completely stalled because the wings are level and it is descending in a wings-level attitude. If one

engine had failed, it would be tilted one way or the other, depending on which engine was remaining in the operational mode.

So whatever happened to this airplane happened equally on both sides of the airplane. If it was an engine thrust, or if it was a loss of lift from the

flaps retracting early, something like that. So it all looks equal. So something happened just at that exact moment and that is what the

investigators are going to be looking at.

QUEST: I was talking to David Soucie a moment ago about the ability in a modern aircraft to take off with a wrong flap configuration. Now, yes, you

can do it, but it is not easy. There is enough modern mechanisms within the aircraft that will scream and shout if you try to do it, isn't it?

WOLZINGER: Yes. Well, the primary one is what is called the takeoff configuration warning, and that is activated by many parameters on the

airplane, but the one we are considering today is the flap setting. So if the flaps aren't set correctly, you'll get a takeoff configuration warning

alerting the pilots that the flaps are not in the preplanned takeoff position.

So if that were the case, the crew would either not take off or abort their takeoff, exit the runway and come back around, correct what was wrong, and

make a second attempt at takeoff.

So for a pilot to ignore this warning goes against all of our training.

QUEST: Right, and also, there is a lot of chatter about weight restrictions, weight loading. Did they use the full length of the runway?

It was 40-odd degrees there, which of course influences the performance of the aircraft and the engines. But I can't help feeling many of those issues

are discounted by the fact of what you said at the beginning, the plane rotates and lifts off relatively normally.

WOLZINGER: Right. If the plane was overloaded or over its maximum weight, it wouldn't have gotten airborne at all, it would have simply rolled off

the far end of the runway and gone into whatever area is beyond the airport perimeter.

So something seems to be relatively normal to allow the airplane to take off, rotate normally to a normal takeoff attitude, and lift off the ground.

After that happened, something went horribly wrong and the airplane was not able to continue climbing out.

QUEST: The awful truth is that once something catastrophic happens at that particular point of flight, because we always talk about, you know, the

different moments of flight and the criticality of this, there really is nothing much more critical than 600 feet above the ground, because there is

nothing you can do if -- it is not like if you're still on the runway, you run off the end and yes, you're going to have a nasty accident, but at

least you're already on the ground.

Here, this is going to end badly, very badly.

WOLZINGER: Right. And pilots are trained if there is a problem with the airplane to continue straight ahead, not to try to make a turn or to return

to the airport at such a low altitude, it is what is called the impossible turn.

But what happens right at the moment that the airplane begins to sink is that the point that the landing gear would normally be raised, so you take

off, you wait three or four seconds, you confirm that you're climbing normally, and then you raise the landing gear. If for some reason you're

not climbing normally, raising the landing gear is kind of the last thing that we are going to do. We are going to assess the situation, try to

correct what's wrong, and then continue the takeoff, raise the landing gear, raise the flaps after emergency procedures have been accomplished.

From this low altitude, there is simply not enough time to accomplish any of those procedures.

QUEST: Are you surprised they were able to get a mayday away?

WOLZINGER: No, because we are wearing headsets. There is a microphone, push to talk button on the control yoke. So it is very easy to get off an

emergency message like that no matter what else is happening in the cockpit.

[16:25:10]

QUEST: I am grateful to you, sir. Thank you. Appreciate the insight. Thank you.

WOLZINGER: Thank you,.

QUEST: Now, according to Boeing, this is the first fatal incident involving the 787. The aircraft entered service in 2011 and until now has had an

unblemished record.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: I'm Richard Quest, a lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight. Air India's crash is the first major incident for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

We are also going to talk about President Trump. He is again attacking the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. I will get to it after we've had the

headlines, the news headlines, because here, the news always comes first.

Officials say at least 290 people are dead following the Air India crash near Ahmedabad Airport. It is not clear yet why the plane went down shortly

after taking off. Amazingly, one passenger survived the crash of the Dreamliner.

A court hearing is taking place in San Francisco on California's push to limit the Trump administration and how it can use the military in the

state. It is the first major test of President Trump's decision to deploy troops to Los Angeles responding to the protests over his immigration

policies.

The Trump administration says the troops are there to protect federal immigration agents and to secure federal properties.

The retrial of Harvey Weinstein has ended after jurors deadlocked on a charge of third degree rape. Weinstein was convicted on the main account of

committing a criminal sexual act. He was acquitted, though, on a charge stemming from a separate accuser. A mistrial was declared on the rape

charge. The foreperson claimed to the judge that jurors were pressurizing each other -- pressuring each other to change their positions.

So more details on the Air India plane crash and the known survivor. Police say it's a British national born. He's being treated in hospital. The head

of surgery at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital spoke to us a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. RAJNEESH PATEL, HEAD OF SURGERY, AHMEDABAD CIVIL HOSPITAL: He is not able to give me the complete picture of the event that happened

sequentially. What he says is that at one moment there was a -- there was some kind of noise and the other moment he was out. And then when he got

up, he was all surrounded by dead bodies and all. So this is what his description is while you see him limping, it was immediately after the

injury, so for a moment before he could reconnect and stabilize himself, he was jumping or limping, but otherwise he has no bone injuries and no limb

injuries. No injuries otherwise, just a little bit on the left side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Now debris from the plane is well and truly embedded in a medical hostel. The students wing of the Indian Medical Association says at least

three medical students were killed on the ground.

Tom Foreman is with me in our Washington bureau.

Like, you know, like myself, you've covered more than a few of these. This is a rum one, isn't it, because of the way in which it appears that the

plane loses power. Gets into the air. So that sort of, it takes away certain things, but then loses power, sinks down to the ground.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Just barely, just barely got into the air. I mean, it should have been able to make this entire run from India to

Gatwick with no real problem because this plane has not had problems. This is a line that came out of Boeing. It has performed well generally. People

have thought very well. No major incidents happening out there.

When you look at the information on this plane that we know, we know that it's been through more than 41,000 hours of flights, no big incidents

involved. There have been questions, but there are always questions with big airlines as to exactly how it's put together, that sort of thing. But

if we look at the map of the flight here from where they took off, if you look from where they went, obviously they're supposed to make the whole

trip there. But if you look at the actual accident area, this was a very, very short distance and a very short period of time.

Richard, if you look very specifically at the video of the plane, when it leaves the ground, I've watched it over and over again and timed it over

and over again, I believe it's actually rising for only 12 seconds. Very short period of time. It stays in the air a little longer. But if you, you

know, we keep hearing it about a minute. This part right here, watch it go up here. It looks normal. And then suddenly it's no longer rising. That

only lasts about 12 seconds.

QUEST: Yes.

FOREMAN: When you're talking about a minute, you're counting all the taxi time, but it rises for about 12 seconds and it's in the air 30 seconds.

That's it. So whatever went wrong, they did not have a lot of time to deal with this, Richard.

QUEST: Right. But that's exactly the point, isn't it? The plane does rotate and lift off. And you know, you know, Tom, it's at that point, you rightly

point out, it's at that point where one would expect the angle of attack to increase and the nose to go up even more as it climbs out having got off

the ground, and that seems to be the bit where it doesn't manage to complete it.

FOREMAN: Well --

QUEST: But the plane, but, you know, you talk about the 787, besides that business with the batteries right at the beginning.

FOREMAN: Early on. Yes.

QUEST: It's extraordinarily popular. It's got incredible economics for the airlines themselves. And it's opened up a vast number of new routes, such

as Ahmedabad for London.

FOREMAN: Yes, it's been doing fine. And you talk about, you know, the part where it should be changing there. I think it's going to be -- we don't

know what happened here. We talked, they had a lot of bird strike issues at this airport, but there's no sign of birds there. We've heard talk about

maybe both the engines shut off, but we don't know about that. There's so much we don't know right now.

But what we do know is this. This is that transitional phase that even as a passenger, you can feel when you take off in a plane and one minute you're

saying, I'm on the ground, and then there's this kind of never, never land where you're definitely off the ground, but you don't feel like you've

really settled into flying yet. That seems to be where this happened. And again, the point is, when you're in that vulnerable state, it does not take

a giant thing to make a mistake because again, you have no time to respond.

QUEST: That's exactly elegantly put, Tom. Thank you. Grateful to you as always, sir. Thank you.

FOREMAN: Good chatting with you, Richard.

QUEST: So now to the passengers, mainly British and Indian on passengers on board.

[16:35:04]

Air India says there were 169 Indian nationals, 53 British, as well as seven Portuguese and a Canadian citizen. Those countries now coming to

terms with what's taking place.

At the scene itself, Vedika Sud is now there.

I have to confess, I am quite surprised at how close they do let you get to the site, for which I saw earlier, although maybe they're now pushing

people further back. Describe the scene tonight, please.

VEDIKA SUD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Richard, it's about 2:00 a.m. here. Just five minutes past 2:00 a.m. here in Ahmedabad, the western city of India.

And I'm about 20 meters away from the crash site. I'm now going to show you a part of the building that was hit. To the left of this building is where

you can see the tail of the plane. But because it's dark and the trees in between, you cannot see it. You can hear -- and you can hear an airplane go

above us because we're very close, like you know, to the airport.

Now there are dozens of security persons here. You see those people in khaki. Those are police officers who are here, and they've been here ever

since the crash took place. You have dozens of journalists on the site, and even at this hour, the rescue and search operations continue. Of course,

the light will be a hindrance. No light will be a hindrance at this point. It's very dark out here.

But I want to show you something that I was shocked to see myself. I'm now going to show you the wing of the plane. Right in front of you is the

debris of the plane. And along with that, the wing of the plane. A-171, the Boeing 787 that we've been talking about. This huge slab of the wing right

here in front of us, along with the rest of the debris.

Like you said, there were 242 people on board, including passengers and the crew. About 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese

nationals. And we just know of one lone survivor as of now. That's the only official confirmation we have as of now of being the only survivor of this

crash.

Tomorrow morning of course you'll be able to see a lot more. But that's a massive building behind us that we're talking about. And what I can smell

right now is just hot metal. I can smell smoke because the heat around this place of course is a lot more than maybe 100 feet away. So here we are at

the crash site. Dead of night. It's quiet here now compared to the earlier hours of the day, but search operations still on.

You have a lot of search. You have a lot of officials inside. Rescue officials. And the DNA we do know will take a while to ascertain in terms

of identifying those bodies. That could take days. So we'll have to wait and see when those relatives who have been thronging the hospital get to

know more about the bodies, the remains, rather, of their loved ones, Richard.

QUEST: I confess, Vedika, to be surprised that you're allowed so close.

SUD: Perhaps it's 2:00 in the morning and most of the media has moved out to be back in the morning. But we're here and we're going to stay because

this is a shock not only to India, the government here, but to the world. It's very rare that you see casualties of such high numbers, or a plane

just about taking off from a runway and then hitting a building. That tail of the plane, like I said, is to my right. Unfortunately, too many trees.

But we promise to get to those visuals early in the morning.

It wasn't difficult getting in, Richard, because we did say that way from the media and we made our way through. The police is cooperating for now.

We have some journalists at the spot, but yes, like I said, we were lucky to make it until here, but the smell really of the metal, of the fuel, all

of that pretty strong still.

QUEST: I was going to say that it's the sheer amount of jet fuel that has been burned during all this. One other quick question. The authorities and

the investigation. Now, Indian authorities have a fairly good track record of investigating these things. They, I mean, unfortunately, there have been

quite a few of them in the last 20 or 30 years. But they know what they're doing, don't they?

SUD: Of course they do. I mean, I think the challenge will be getting or retrieving the black box at this point. I mean, you've seen a whole plane

go through these buildings, so that is going to be a challenge. But along with that, I think at this point, the first focus will be on identifying

those bodies as well, Richard. I think that is priority at this time for this government, for the company that owns Air India, and for any

stakeholder involved. So that could be step number two.

[16:40:01]

Of course, it's priority. I remember in 2020, another incident took place down south in Kochi. And at that point also the black box was recovered,

retrieved and more information came in over the days. But this could be a long process. But it seems that the authorities have promised they're going

to do their best, but there will be challenges ahead.

I mean, we're talking about three buildings here itself, or rather four, and they have to go through all of them. And this could take days, really,

in terms of finding more evidence or anything that could help them.

That's another flight going above us because like I said, the airport is less than a kilometer away at this point.

Another note if I may, it's an anecdote really. I was coming from Goa to Ahmedabad and most of the people on that flight were so nervous when we got

onto that aircraft because they didn't know, you know, what the next two hours would hold. It was a turbulent flight. I could hear shrieks. I could

hear people being nervous, some of them crying. So of course it's rattled passengers around as well, especially those who will be landing in

Ahmedabad over the next few hours. So it's been unsettling and it will remain to be unsettling for the days to come for passengers across India.

QUEST: I'm grateful. Thank you, Vedika Sud. It is late at night there. Thank you for joining us.

Now I'll have more in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: The Boeing 787 Dreamliner that crashed into the medical hostel shortly after it left the airport. It's the first fatal incident involving

the 787 since the aircraft first entered into service back in 2011, and the plane maker Boeing says Dreamliners account for 2,000 flights at least a

day. In April, Boeing celebrated its billionth passenger on the Dreamliner.

Today's crash is a string of safety incidents, crashes and quality issues that Boeing has suffered. To my next guest, who says it presents a new set

of problems for Boeing, which are starting to emerge.

Skift's airline reporter Meghna Maharishi joins me now.

It's going to be difficult this to separate the airline, the operating team on the aircraft, and Boeing. But at the moment, the focus is where, in your

view?

MEGHNA MAHARISHI, AIRLINE REPORTER, SKIFT: I think right now the focus is just on the accident itself.

[16:45:03]

And, you know, as they said before, just claiming all the bodies that were found and also just assessing what caused the crash to happen. But

obviously the optics are not great for Boeing or Air India. This crash probably could not have come at a worse time for Boeing, which has been

dealing with one safety incident after another and has been receiving a lot of scrutiny for its safety and quality practices.

But it is worth noting the 787 is one of the safest aircraft out there. It had a really strong safety record. There were no reported fatalities up

until this incident.

QUEST: And so as this moves forward, I mean, you know, there will be passengers questioning tonight the safety of the aircraft. But as far as I

can see, that would be way too premature to be making any of those sort of judgments until we know quite a lot more. Would you agree with that?

MAHARISHI: Yes, definitely. We still don't know the cause of the crash. Like it could have been a technical error or it could have been a

mechanical error with the plane itself, and we probably won't have any indication of that for days or weeks.

QUEST: As for Air India itself, interestingly, of course, this reform that Campbell Wilson has been doing since the airline was privatized and owned

by Tata Group, it has been root and branch and safety has been part of it. So this is going to be a very serious blow in a sense to that.

MAHARISHI: Yes. This is definitely a big stress test for Air India. I mean, Air India has been under this big corporate transformation campaign, this

long-term campaign to change people's built-in perceptions about Air India because before it was acquired by the Tata Group, it was state owned and it

did generally have this perception that it was just not a very good airline that didn't really prioritize customer service.

It was just not seen as a high quality airline. And under Campbell Wilson, Air India has been really working hard to undo that. They've been making

blockbuster plane orders, they've been refurbishing cabins. And yes, they've also been prioritizing safety. So I guess we'll see how they

respond in the coming days to this crash. But this is definitely a big stress test for them.

QUEST: Yes. And it's interesting that because when I was down in Delhi just two weeks ago after the IATA conference and spent some time with him, he

was very much keen to say it's not just about branding, it's not just about refurbishing the planes, it is about putting in new IT systems and

essentially rebuilding Air India after 40, 50 years, of course, of public ownership, where frankly I think most people would agree it was almost a

basket case.

MAHARISHI: Yes, definitely. I think this transformation project, it's really from the ground up and trying to make Air India this very modern

airline and I think also an airline that can (INAUDIBLE) for example, because traveling to India is a big route for those in the U.S. and for

Europe and the Middle East. I think that's been a big part of this campaign. And I think Air India does want to be seen eventually as

something comparable to Emirates or Lufthansa.

QUEST: Right. I'm grateful. Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you.

Now, other news to bring to your attention. Democrats are demanding answers after one of their members, the U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, was forcibly

removed from a news conference. There we go. Now do watch these pictures and bear in mind this is a U.S. senator that you see.

It is worth pointing out --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- Your back hands behind your back.

SEN. ALEX PADILLA (D-CA): If you let my hands go extend behind my back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Cool.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lay flat, lay flat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Other hand, sir. Other hand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Right. What was taking place was a news conference by the Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Now, the senator, Senator Padilla

represents the state of California. He was trying to ask the secretary about the government's response to the protests in Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PADILLA: I was there peacefully. At one point, I had a question. And so I began to ask a question. I was almost immediately forcibly removed from the

room.

[16:50:00]

I was forced to the ground, and I was handcuffed. I was not arrested. I was not detained.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Now, according to the secretary, she told reporters that nobody recognized the senator and accused him of lunging towards the podium.

Nick Watt is in Los Angeles.

Is that credible that nobody recognized -- I mean, there's only two senators in California. If you can hear me, Nick. Can you hear me? Nick,

can you hear me? No. I think -- no. We're having difficulty, Nick.

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sorry, guys. We're having a little communication problem. I'm actually going to walk away from the protest

because it's a little loud. So this is the protest area downtown by the detention center that has been the focus of the demonstrations here in Los

Angeles over the past few days. Pretty quiet right now. Tends to pick up later in the day. You'll see just a few, you'll see just a few National

Guard here guarding, a couple of LAPD on motorcycles.

So just, Richard, back to what you were saying about the Kristi Noem- Padilla incident. Now, in defense of Kristi Noem people, that was not the Q&A section of the press conference. In defense of Alex Padilla on the

video -- let's get away from here. So in defense of Alex Padilla, he pretty quickly, when they were hands on identified himself as a U.S. senator.

Interesting to note what Kristi Noem was talking about right before that happened. She was saying that the federal troops are here in Los Angeles

to, quote, "liberate" this city from the socialist and overburdening government imposed by the governor and the mayor. That is not what their

mission here is supposed to be. Their mission here is supposed to be ICE agents rounding up what they deem undocumented, illegal people. They say

they're all rapists and murderers. That is open to question.

Kristi Noem is saying that they are here to liberate the city. She's also saying that they're going to use this as a blueprint to keep other

communities around this country safe. So take that for what you will.

Today pretty chill. Curfew will probably kick in again at 8:00 p.m. tonight. The last couple of nights we've seen the curfew come in. We've

seen LAPD arrests some people. A couple of hundred on the first night. About 80 last night. But it has been pretty calm. It has been very

contained.

This city is not, as the president would like to have you believe, on fire. LAPD, other local law enforcement taking control. This is kind of picking

up here today. So we'll be here all day making sure, keeping an eye on what's going on. I can't hear you, so you can't ask me a question.

Back to you, Richard.

QUEST: There was a schadenfreude, almost an enjoyment in his face as he said that. Nick, he couldn't hear me but I'm grateful that he -- we were

able to hear him and where he was at.

Let's take a "Profitable Moment" after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment." So I was in India just a couple of weeks ago, visiting Air India and talking to Campbell Wilson, the CEO. In

their reception area of their new training center there is a specific area set aside where there is, there's wreckage from previous crashes.

[16:55:10]

There's the Air India 747 that blew up over the Atlantic. There was the India Express One when there were seats, air wreckage, bits of fuselage.

And I asked him, I asked Campbell why. And the reason that he said that it was all there was to remind everybody of the seriousness and significance

of when things go wrong and the significance of safety first. Apparently other airlines do do this. I hadn't seen it done like that before.

So improving safety and this culture of safety was very much on the agenda as part of the new Air India that's being created. The fact that this has

happened will be a serious obvious blow and setback as they try to work out what more needs to be done. But Air India is now a private company. Tata

will get to the bottom of it. And in the days and weeks ahead, we'll find out a lot more details of what went wrong.

And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest. Jim Sciutto will be back with breaking news coverage after this break. This is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END