New Delhi, June 11 -- For Air India, the crash of Flight AI171, a Dreamliner, in June 2025 was more than a tragedy-it was a moment of reckoning. The disaster, India's deadliest aviation accident in decades, shattered lives, shook public confidence and forced the Tata-owned carrier to look inward.

One year later, the airline is attempting to turn that defining crisis into a catalyst for change. It has tightened maintenance oversight, strengthened safety processes and brought in experienced aviation executives to improve engineering discipline, according to three people familiar with the airline's operations, including an Air India executive, a regulator and a third-party service provider.

Yet despite heightened vigilance and closer scrut...