Families of Air India 171 victims launch class action against Boeing, Honeywell

The families of four passengers who died in the accident involving Air India Flight 171 have launched a class action lawsuit against planemaker Boeing, along with Honeywell, citing negligence and a faulty fuel cutoff switch for the accident.

The June 12, 2025, crash occurred shortly after the aircraft, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, had departed Ahmedabad International Airport in India en route to London-Gatwick Airport, killing 260 people. There was one sole survivor.

In a complaint filed on September 16, 2025, in Delaware Superior Court, the families claim that the locking mechanism for the switch on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner could be turned off inadvertently or could even be missing, causing a reduction in fuel supply to the relevant engine with a resulting loss of thrust required for take-off.

The aircraft’s fuel switches have become a focus for investigators after a preliminary inquiry found that fuel to both engines was cut off just moments after the plane left the ground.

Focus on the fuel cut-off switches

The claim adds that Boeing and Honeywell (the companies that installed and manufactured the switch, respectively) knew about the risk that the switch could be moved to the cut-off position inadvertently, but took no action in this regard.

Even after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned airlines in 2018 of a risk of locking mechanisms that had disengaged uncommanded on several Boeing aircraft, no follow-up or remedial action was taken by the defending parties.  

While the FAA urged in 2018 that operators inspect the fuel switches’ locking mechanism to ensure that it could not be accidentally moved, thereby cutting off fuel supply. However, such checks were not made mandatory by Boeing at any point.  

By putting the switch directly behind the aircraft’s thrust levers, “Boeing effectively guaranteed that normal cockpit activity could result in inadvertent fuel cut-off,” the complaints documents state. “What did Honeywell and Boeing do to prevent the inevitable catastrophe? Nothing.”

According to the lawsuit, the companies also failed to warn airlines that the switches required inspection and repair and did not supply replacement parts to enable their customers to install them. It adds that Boeing and Honeywell “sat idly” behind a gentle advisory that merely recommended inspecting the switches, said the families, who are represented by a Texas-based law firm.

The claim is seeking unspecified damages for the deaths of four passengers – Kantaben Dhirubhai Paghadal, Naavya Chirag Paghadal, Kuberbhai Patel, and Babiben Patel, who were among the 229 passengers on the Dreamliner when it crashed.

Twelve crew members and 19 people on the ground were also killed. The claimants bringing the action on behalf of their deceased family members are citizens of India or the United Kingdom, and live in either one of those countries, according to a report in The Hindu Business Line.

No comment from Boeing, Honeywell

Boeing, based in Arlington, Virginia, declined to comment on Wednesday. Honeywell, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, have both so far not provided any comment on the legal claim. Instead, both organizations pointed to India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) preliminary investigation report into the crash.

Both companies are incorporated in Delaware. The lawsuit appears to be the first launched in the United States over the crash. Although the crash happened in India, the choice of the US as the forum for the lawsuit is entirely normal, given that both defendants are US-based.

So far, Indian, UK, and American investigators have not conclusively determined the exact cause of the crash, although they said after the publication of a preliminary report that their attentions were focused on the fuel cut-off switches and why they were both moved to the cut-off position, as remarked by one of the pilots and captured on the aircraft’s cockpit voice recorder.

According to sources close to the ongoing investigation, the full report into the crash, along with findings and recommendations, is due to be published in 2026.