Since the Tata takeover, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation has repeatedly fined Air India over safety and other regulatory violations, including an Rs8mn ($95,000) penalty last year for exceeding flight duty time limits. At home, it is competing in a near-duopoly with IndiGo, which has been boosting its international long-haul routes.

The family of three Britons who died in the Air India plane crash are calling on the UK government to provide more support in India. Akeel Nanabawa, Hannaa Vorajee and Sara Nanabawa, aged four, were returning home to Gloucester when their plane ploughed into a residential area in Ahmedabad on Thursday.

India’s government is urgently inspecting all Boeing 787s after a devastating Air India crash that claimed at least 270 lives this week, the aviation minister said on Saturday, adding that the authorities were investigating all possible causes.