In November, more than halfway into a five-year turnaround at Air India, chief executive Campbell Wilson reflected on the challenges of privatising a formerly state-owned airline and overseeing one of aviation history’s biggest jet orders.

“It has been a progressive thing, because at the end of the day we are still an airline and we still carry people in tubes 10 kilometres above the ground,” Wilson told the Financial Times in an interview. “So at the same time that you’re doing all of this change, you have to continue operating safely and robustly.”

Seven months later, the safety credentials of India’s flag carrier — and Wilson’s record as chief executive — are under intense scrutiny. Investigators are still probing what caused a London-bound Air India flight to crash in Ahmedabad shortly after take-off, killing more than 290 people.