Air NZ CEO Greg Foran speaks with Ryan Bridge on Herald NOW after Air India crash
Hundreds of Indian student pilots in New Zealand will be feeling devastated after yesterday’s fatal crash, aviation sector leader Simon Wallace says.
Air India’s chief executive is Christchurch-born Campbell Wilson, but the bilateral links extend further.
Wallace, the Aviation Industry Association (AIANZ) chief executive, said he hoped the community supportedthe student pilots and others in the sector reeling from the Flight 171 deadly crash.
“There’s a strong aviation connection between India and New Zealand, and it’s one that centres not only on the development of the free trade agreement and the possible new flight connections between New Zealand and India, but it’s that ... our flight training schools are training Indian pilots here.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon had advocated for direct flights between India and Auckland and a free-trade agreement before the 2026 election.
India PM Narendra Modi and NZ Prime Minister Christopher Luxon before their bilateral meeting in March. Photo / Interest.co.nz
Wallace said a few hundred Indian flight students would be in the country now.
“So there is a very close relationship between New Zealand and India, and I would want to make sure that we are supporting those Indian students in New Zealand at the moment.
“Knowing our flight training organisations very well, they will be providing really good pastoral care support. They’ll be looking after them.”
Wallace said others in the aviation sector were probably feeling devastated today after the Boeing 787 crash.
“There’s a lot of shock and there’s a lot of sadness.”
Wallace said speculation on the crash’s cause was unhelpful.
“It’s too early to speculate, and we need to wait for a proper investigation to unfold and take place.”
Ashok Poduval, the Massey University School of Aviation’s chief executive, expressed his sorrow at the fatal crash.
Rescue officials at the site where Air India flight 171 crashed in a residential area near the airport in Ahmedabad. Photo / Sam Panthaky, AFP
“The aviation community globally, I’d like to think, is very much linked, and a tragedy of such proportions is very disturbing,” he said today.
“It is indeed a tragedy, and I’m sure the Boeing company and [investigators] in India will get to the bottom of this hopefully fairly quickly.
“They should be able to recover the voice recorders. We also know that the pilots put out a mayday call. We don’t know whether anything more was said after that.”
Poduval said available video evidence showed there was clearly some sort of power loss or reduction of power.
“The reasons for that have yet to be determined.”
Poduval said New Zealand had many pilot trainees and cadets from India.
“There’s a whole group of them in Whanganui. There’s a group of them in Ōamaru in one of the flight schools there.”
The New Zealand Air Line Pilots’ Association (NZALPA) urged people to let the air accident investigation process take its course after the tragedy.
President Andrew McKeen, who is a 787 pilot, said the association’s thoughts were with the families and loved ones of the passengers and crew.
“New Zealand airlines also operate Boeing 787s, but we remind passengers that thousands of flights occur daily without incident and there is no immediate cause for concern,” McKeen said today.
“NZALPA’s pilots’ and air traffic controllers’ first priority is, and always will be, the safety of our members and the travelling public.”
As the Herald previously reported, Campbell Wilson was leading Singapore Airlines’ subsidiary Scoot in 2022 when he was offered the job at Air India.
He went to Shirley Boys’ High School and studied at Canterbury University, graduating with a Master of Commerce with honours in 1994.
“This is a difficult day for all of us at Air India. Our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers, crew members, their families and loved ones.”
He added: “The investigations will take time. But anything we can do now, we are doing.”
A candlelight vigil will be held in Auckland’s Mt Eden tonight for plane crash victims.
The Auckland Indian Diaspora Group said it wanted to gather in “memory of the innocent lives tragically lost in the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad”.
Air India and Air New Zealand are members of the Star Alliance.
India’s Tata Group conglomerate owns 74.9% of the airline, and Singapore Airlines, another Star Alliance member, owns 25.1%.
India’s Civil Aviation Minister, Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, said a formal investigation had been opened into the cause of the crash.
John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation and courts. He has previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.
