India crash is latest test for Boeing CEO

Crash marks first fatal accident involving Boeing 787; chief executive cancels trip to Paris Air Show

- DAN CATCHPOLE NATHAN GOMES SHASHWAT CHAUHAN

Boeing leadership was back in crisis mode on Thursday following the deadly crash of an Air India 787-8 Dreamliner jet minutes after take-off earlier in the day.

The planemaker's new CEO Kelly Ortberg had been set to head to the Paris Air Show, the industry's biggest event of the year, after several key accomplishments in recent weeks as he tries to rebuild public trust in Boeing following a series of safety and production crises.

But his plan to attend the show next week with Boeing Commercial Air-planes head Stephanie Pope has been scrapped, Mr Ortberg said, as the company focuses on the investigation into the first-ever crash of a 787 jet, its most advanced model.

"As our industry prepares to start the Paris Air Show, Stephanie [Pope] and I have both cancelled plans to attend so we can be with our team, and focus on our customer and the investigation," Mr Ortberg wrote in a message to employees on Thursday evening that was seen by Reuters.

The Air India plane bound for London crashed in the Indian city of Ahmedabad, killing nearly all of the 242 people on board, in the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade.