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Air India crash death toll reaches 270 as families await bodies
Families are increasingly upset by the delays in delivering badly burned bodies from the crash in Ahmedabad, a city in western India. After takeoff, the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying 242 passengers bound for Britain's Gatwick Airport started losing height and then exploded in a fiery fireball when it hit the buildings below. This was the worst aviation accident in 10 years. Dhaval gameti, President of the Junior Doctors Association of B.J. Medical College, said reporters. The plane hit the hostel of the Medical College as it fell, killing many passengers and crew. The crisis has escalated cast a shadow Air India has struggled for years to rebuild its reputation and upgrade its fleet since the Tata Group acquired the airline in 2022 from the Indian Government. Tata chairman said that the group is trying to figure out what happened but, "we don't really know at this time." Air India and Indian government looked at The crash has many aspects Reports have raised a number of issues, including those related to the thrust generated by the engine, the flaps and the reason why the landing gear was left open when the plane landed and took off. Dozens Anxious family members Doctors were busy collecting dental samples to perform identification checks and DNA profiles on the dead. Families waiting to pick up the bodies of their loved ones who died in the accident. Rafiq Abd Hafiz Memon said that he had lost four family members in the incident and that he did not get any answers from the authorities. He was also "very harassed". "We lost our children. We don't understand anything." Please help us find out more about our children. "Tell us when they will release their bodies," Memon asked. A father complained about not being able to retrieve the body of Harshad, his son. He said he had been told by the authorities that DNA profiling would take 72 hours. "The authorities are doing their best to assist, but our patience is wearing thin," he said. The majority of the bodies were severely charred, and authorities used dental samples for identification checks. Jaishankar Pillai is a forensic dental expert who told reporters Friday that they have the dental records for 135 victims whose teeth were charred. These records can be matched with previous dental charts, radiographs, or other records.
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What do we know about the Air India crash investigation?
Air India's fatal plane crash, which killed at least 271 people, has sparked a wave speculation as to what caused the worst aviation disaster of the decade. However, authorities are narrowing their investigation areas. Experts say that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has an excellent safety record with no fatal accidents in its past. What is known so far about the crash? Visual Evidence Investigators are examining a 59-second CCTV clip which clearly shows the takeoff of the plane and its crash from the Sardar Vallabhbhai patel International Airport, located in Ahmedabad City, Gujarat State. The CCTV camera was on the left side of the runway, near a barbed-wire wall. The video shows the Tata Group's Air India aircraft take off, gain some altitude, fly flat for a few seconds, then start descending with its rear down. After take-off, the descent begins approximately 17 seconds later. When the plane starts to descend, there is no visible fire around the engine. The landing gear is visible throughout the video. The plane crashed into a massive fireball in just 33 seconds after wheels-up. Where did the plane fall? B.J. Medical College hostel Images taken shortly after the incident show that the wheels of the aircraft were embedded in the wall, and debris, belongings, and clothing of students lay on the floor. On the few tables left intact, there were still plates and tumblers with food on them. On Friday, a strong smell of jet fuel was in the air as authorities removed charred debris and trees using cranes. POSSIBLE CAUSES Air India officials, along with scores of Indian government agents and investigators, have been on the crash site ever since Thursday. According to a direct source, no initial findings have yet been made, but investigators continue to look at three main possible issues. Investigators are looking into any possible issues with engine thrust. This is the force that the engine produces to propel it through the air. Investigators also look at possible issues related to flaps. Investigation teams also included anti-terror squads. Officials also assess why the landing gear remained open so long after takeoff. The investigation is not focused on a possible bird strike. Sources added that officials were also investigating any possible fault of Air India including possible maintenance issues. Where is the black box? India's Aviation Ministry has confirmed that investigators and rescue workers have recovered the digital flight recorder, one of two black boxes in the plane, from the roof of the building where the jet crashed. The cockpit voice recording, the second black box, is crucial for the investigation. The Indian aviation regulator conducted additional maintenance on Air India's Boeing 787-8/9 equipped with GEnx engine, including a "one-time" check of the takeoff parameters prior to every flight departure from midnight June 15th. Also, the airline was asked to perform engine fuel and electronic engine control checks.
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Boeing resumes China delivery with 787-9 aircraft to Juneyao Airlines. Yicai reports
Chinese media outlet Yicai reports that Boeing delivered a new 787-9 to China's Juneyao Airlines Saturday as tensions in trade between Beijing and Washington have eased. This delivery comes just two days after a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying 242 passengers crashed into a fireball in western India shortly after takeoff. Boeing and Juneyao Airlines didn't immediately respond to requests for comments on the Yicai Report. In April, the U.S. Aerospace giant suspended all new aircraft deliveries to China as President Donald Trump escalated his tariff war between the two world's largest economies. Boeing announced at the end May that the deliveries will resume this month, after tariffs are temporarily reduced for 90 days. China and the U.S. ended two days of talks in London, Tuesday, to resolve important trade issues. Washington and Beijing reached an agreement on a framework for tariff rates. A new Boeing 737 MAX painted with the livery for Xiamen Airlines landed on Monday in China. This is another sign that Boeing has resumed deliveries to China. Boeing's backlog in China is about 10%, and it is a growing and important aviation market. Boeing said that customers in China were not going to take new planes because of the tariffs, and it was planning to resell dozens of aircraft. (Reporting from Ziyi Tang and Kane Wu, in Beijing; Editing by William Mallard).
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Sources say that buyout firms are interested in buying US trucker Forward Air.
People familiar with the situation said that private equity firms such as Blackstone and Apollo Global Management are interested in buying U.S. trucker Forward Air. Signing confidentiality agreements allowed them to receive information and review documents to help shape a possible bid. Platinum Equity and Clearlake Capital can also review materials after signing agreements, according to the sources. Sources said that the initial takeover bids will be submitted in the first week of the month of July. However, they noted that there was no guarantee four buyout firms would make offers. It is possible that other bidders will emerge. Sources spoke under condition of anonymity in order to discuss private discussions. Blackstone, Apollo and the company all declined to comment. Platinum and Clearlake did not respond to requests for comment. Forward Air, a company that specializes in hauls that do not require a full truckload of space, announced earlier this week its commitment to moving forward with the strategic alternatives review. The review was first announced in January, and it could include selling the company. The market value of the Greeneville-based company has fallen from $610 million to about $20. Analysts said that the enterprise value of the company is closer to $2 billion when viewed on a fully-diluted basis. This includes net debt. Private equity investors are interested in Forward Air as they see the potential for growth. The company is already a dominant player in the niche transportation market but has fallen on hard times since a bad acquisition in 2024. Analysts said that the company acquired freight forwarder Omni Logistics through a deal which was not approved by shareholders. This added to debt and caused operational disruptions. Several investors began to pressurize the company shortly after the deal had been finalized in January 2024. This led to the company's announcement in January 2025. Ancora Holdings (4% shareholder) was frustrated by the lack of visible progress on the review. In May, it launched a campaign against three long-serving board members, whom they blamed for approving the Omni deal and slowing down the sales process. The campaign to withhold approval was successful and the three directors resigned after the annual meeting of the company this week. (Reporting and editing by Edward Tobin; Svea Herbst Bayliss)
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Brazil's coffee harvest is behind last year's pace, but sales are still up
The Brazilian coffee harvest for 2025/26 accelerated in the last week to 35% but remained lower than the level in 2024. Sales of the anticipated output were on par with last year's, at 22%. Safras & Mercado reported that the robusta bean harvest increased by seven percentage points in the week ending June 11. The dry weather favored the robusta beans. Rains have slowed down the work on arabica fields in the states of Minas Gerais, Sao Paulo, and Parana in the southeast. This is two percentage points less than the level of 37% seen at the same time last year. However, it is still above the five-year average 33%. Safras & Mercado, in a separate report, said that the Brazilian 2025/26 coffee crop sales have increased in recent weeks. Brazil is the largest coffee exporter in the world. Analyst Gil Barabach stated in the report that in general, Brazilian coffee producers are better capitalized following recent price increases, which has led to a slowdown in sales. Safras & Mercado reported that although sales were in line with those of the same period of last year, they were nine points below the average five-year level of 31%. Barabach explained that "this difference reflects the change in behavior of Brazilian producers over the past few years. Until the 2021 frost Brazilian producers were more aggressive in their sales in advance." (Reporting and editing by Brendan O'Boyle; Roberto Samora, Andre Romani)
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The 'data infrastructure market' is driving the hot M&A tech race in AI.
Dealmaking in most industries has been slowed down by geopolitical uncertainties and tariffs. The only exception is the less glamorous world of data infrastructure. In the race to remain competitive with OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, legacy tech companies such as Meta, Salesforce, or ServiceNow have made the companies that process data for advanced AI models their top targets. Brian Marshall, Global Co-Head of Software Investment Banking at Citi, said that AI without data would be like life without air. It doesn't exist. Marshall explained that AI is driving the current zeitgeist of data. Tech deals are among the few bright spots of a gloomy M&A industry. They account for $421 billion out of $1.67 trillion announced globally in the first five month of this year. This is about 25% of all M&A. The data show that this is up from around 20% last year to 17% by 2023. The data shows that of all the tech deals, AI software makers represented almost three-quarters of the total value. Speed Matters Goldman Sachs' Managing Director Matthew Lucas focuses on M&A in all aspects of computing. He said that enterprise data as it relates to AI is "the most dynamic area right now in software M&A." Lucas explained that there is a strong perception that getting to the destination first and speed are important factors. This lends itself well to M&A. Software companies that assist businesses in managing their data through cloud-based platforms are becoming increasingly valuable as the number of potential targets shrinks. Investment bankers believe that legacy tech companies could target enterprise data infrastructure and analytics firms like Confluent. They say that these companies may help businesses better integrate, store, and analyze information. The executives of Boomi, Dataiku Fivetran and Qlik said that they were not surprised at the attention. "Siloed, messy data has undermined enterprise efforts to realize the transformative power of analytics for a long time. In light of the urgent need to deploy AI that is effective, Florian Douetteau said, "Fixing it has become a matter of life and death." Confluent and Sigma Computing didn't respond to requests for comment. LEGACY TECH BOUGHT IN In the past few weeks, several multi-billion dollar deals have been made or closed for companies that provide data infrastructure. Meta announced a deal on Friday for $14.8 billion to acquire a 49% stake of the data-labeling firm Scale AI. Salesforce announced last month that it would be buying data integration company Informatica, for $8 billion. Artificial intelligence is driving an unprecedented change in technology that has forced several of the biggest social media platforms, and software companies to purchase companies that support AI-backed systems. Gartner, a technology data provider, forecasts that generative AI will total $644 billion worldwide in 2025. This is an increase of 76.4 percent from 2024. ServiceNow, an IT management company, announced in early May that it would be purchasing Data.world's data catalog platform. This will help ServiceNow better understand the context of data. Salesforce's acquisition of Informatica announced late last month will enable Salesforce to better assimilate and analyze scattered data across internal and external systems, before feeding Einstein AI into its own AI system. The very next day, IBM completed its acquisition of DataStax. IBM announced the February deal that would allow it to process and manage unstructured data prior to feeding it into its AI platform. BAD ADVICE These deals show how important it is for legacy software companies to control all aspects of the data management process. M&A can be the fastest and most efficient way to do this. They are instead acquiring data specialists who can help them organize, clean and connect data across their entire business, rather than building complex systems from scratch. As was the case last week when Databricks announced its plans to purchase serverless database manager Neon, valued at $1 billion and a leader in AI, data processing, and AI, which was recently appraised at $62 billion. Dealmakers cautioned that companies cannot just throw any data into an AI system, and expect to get good results. Air Canada was forced to refund airfare after its AI chatbot gave a bad recommendation last year. Tech dealmakers claim that these types of mistakes can occur if unfiltered data of the wrong type is fed into an AI engine. (Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York Editing by Dawn Kopecki and Nick Zieminski) (Reporting and editing by Dawn Kopecki, Nick Zieminski, and Milana Vinn from New York)
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ISS advises against six Keisei Electric Railway Candidates in the fight with Palliser
Institutional Shareholder Services, a U.S.-based proxy advisory firm, urged Keisei Electric Railway shareholders to vote against six nominees for the management board of directors on Friday. This included the current CEO. Palliser Capital, a UK activist, has been urging the railway operator to improve governance and reallocate capital for years. The Keisei annual meeting, which is one of the main routes from Narita Airport into Tokyo's center, will be held on June 27. Palliser has "made a compelling argument that a governance revamp at Keisei will be necessary to restore management trust," ISS wrote. The hedge fund argues that insiders are a major reason for the underperformance of the company. Palliser now wants to block six elections and reduce the size of the board to nine members from fifteen, making it more agile. Palliser is against the reelection of two insiders and Keisei president and CEO Toshiya kobayashi. Palliser does not target Takao Amano, who will take over from Kobayashi as CEO when he becomes board chair at this year's Annual Meeting. Glass Lewis, a prominent proxy advisory company, had recommended earlier in the week that investors vote against Kobayashi and two other directors.
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Air France-KLM CEO expresses confidence in Boeing 787
Air France-KLM's head expressed his confidence in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner while expressing condolences to Air India, and all those who were affected by the fatal crash of an Air India passenger jet bound for London in Ahmedabad last Thursday. Ben Smith, CEO, the Franco-Dutch airline, said at the Paris Air Forum on Friday that "we still have faith in the plane; we have 34 Boeing 787s in our fleet." The tragic accident, he added, is currently being investigated. Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus, also offered condolences at the event to the families of those who died in the crash. It was the worst aviation accident of the decade. India's air accident investigation agency is looking into the cause of a crash that killed over 240 people. Safety experts cautioned that it was too early to speculate about the causes. An order from India's aviation regulator showed that the agency had ordered Air India on Friday to conduct safety inspections of its Boeing 787-8/9 aircraft fleet.
As Israel attacks Iran, global airline and travel stocks fall.
The global airline stocks fell on Friday, as Israel's massive strikes against Iran triggered a surge of more than 9% in oil prices, and caused carriers to clear the airspace above Israel, Iran and Iraq, and Jordan.
As a result of Iran's retaliation, travel and leisure stocks fell. This was due to fears of a disruption in oil supply at the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz is a critical chokepoint that accounts for about a quarter of global oil consumption.
Iran has threatened in the past to close the Strait to traffic as a retaliation for Western pressure.
Helima Croft, an analyst at RBC, said that if oil gets caught up in the conflict between the Middle East and the United States, President Trump may seek spare barrels from OPEC to help keep prices down and protect U.S. consumer's economic impact.
Flightradar24's data revealed that carriers were scrambling to cancel and divert flights.
Patrick Scholes of Truist Securities, an analyst, said that higher oil prices will have a particularly negative impact on cruise lines because fuel is the second largest cost item after labor.
Such macro-political concerns are never positive for travel agencies.
As airlines have to detour and increase flight time, they are experiencing a strain on their profitability due to the rising number of conflict zones around the world.
Delta Airlines of the United States, airBaltic in Latvia, Aegean Airlines of Greece, Ryan Air, and Air India, are just a few carriers who have cancelled or diverted their flights.
Air France-KLM shares fell by more than 5% while Lufthansa, EasyJet and Lufthansa were all down at least 4%.
Delta Air Lines (DAL), American Airlines (AAL) and United Airlines (UAL) all saw their stock prices drop between 4% to 5%.
Richard Clarke is an analyst at Bernstein. He said: "There will be a global slowdown in the booking pace as we have seen after previous conflicts, and consumers are waiting to see what level of escalation there is."
The shares of cruise operators like Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival Corp and Booking Holdings were down between 2 and 4%. Online travel agencies Booking Holdings & Expedia also lost more than 2%.
"Although the price of gas is increasing, it's not a tax for consumers. It's a cost to cruise operators and airlines, and that could affect spending on travel and other items," Dan Wasiolek said, an analyst at Morningstar Research.
Conflict-related uncertainties boosted crude prices. Shares of U.S. majors Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and SLB rose between 1% and 3 percent, while Halliburton and SLB, oilfield service companies, increased by 3%.
The shares of Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk, two European container giants, rose by 4% and 1,5% respectively. Frontline, Torm, and Euronav all gained over 2%. Reporting by Amanda Cooper, Tristan Veyet, Arunima, Aishwarya Jain, and Anuja, Bharat, Mistry, in Bengaluru. Editing by Alun, Arpan, and Shrey Biswas.
(source: Reuters)