Boeing 787 Dreamliner

The 787 has a good record with one large exception. For almost 14 years after it entered service in 2011, no one died in a 787 accident. Then, on 12 June 2025, Air India 171 crashed just after take-off from Ahmedabad and 241 of the 242 people on board died. Because the 787 has flown only about 7.9 million passenger flights, that one crash weighs heavily on its record.

What the 787 is and where you fly on it

The 787 Dreamliner first flew in 2009 and entered service with ANA in 2011. It comes in three sizes: the 787-8, the longer 787-9 and the 787-10. Typical layouts seat 240 to 330. About 1,240 have been built and nearly all are still flying.

It is the standard long-haul jet for many airlines, including United, American, British Airways, ANA, JAL, Qatar Airways, Etihad and Air India. Its range and size let airlines open long, thinner routes that once needed a 747, such as Perth to London.

Design features that matter for safety

About half of the 787's structure is carbon-fibre composite. It uses fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary controls with Boeing's "soft" protections, which push back against the pilot near the edge of the flight envelope but can be overridden. It has fewer systems that draw air from the engines and relies more on electrical power, which is why it carries large lithium-ion batteries. It flies with General Electric GEnx or Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines.

Three problems stand out. In January 2013 two batteries overheated within days, and the FAA grounded the fleet until Boeing redesigned the battery and housing. In July 2013 a parked, empty Ethiopian Airlines 787 caught fire at Heathrow; investigators traced it to the small lithium battery of the emergency locator transmitter, not the main batteries. From 2016, durability problems with Trent 1000 engine blades kept dozens of 787s on the ground and led to limits on how far some could fly from a diversion airport. And from 2020 the FAA and Boeing found production flaws, including tiny gaps where fuselage sections join. Boeing halted most deliveries for much of 2021 and 2022 while it inspected and repaired aircraft. None of these caused an accident.

The fatal record

There is one fatal event in our data up to 7 October 2026:

• 12 June 2025, Air India 171, Ahmedabad to London Gatwick. The 787-8 lost thrust on both engines seconds after lift-off and hit a hostel building for doctors about 1.5 km from the runway. 241 of 242 people on board died, and about 19 people on the ground were reported killed.

India's preliminary report found that both fuel control switches moved from RUN to CUTOFF one second apart just after lift-off, then back to RUN 10 to 14 seconds later. On the cockpit voice recording, one pilot asks the other why he cut off the fuel, and the other says he did not. The report gave no conclusion. Because the investigation was still open at our data cut-off, we count the crash as an accident with an undetermined cause, as our methodology does for all such events.

How to tell if you are on one

Flight apps and booking sites show the ICAO type code: B788 for the 787-8, B789 for the 787-9 and B78X for the 787-10. On board, the 787 has large windows with electronic dimming instead of pull-down shades, and the cabin air is kept more humid and at a lower cabin altitude than on older jets, which many passengers notice on long flights.

If you are booked on a 787, the type is not a reason to change flights. The final Air India report may change how this crash is classified, but nothing found so far points to a fault that affects every 787.