After the tragic Air India crash in Ahmedabad, the aviation company is facing criticism that the condolence video message by CEO Campbell Wilson was nearly identical to a speech made by American Airlines CEO Robert Isom in January this year.

Isom's message was sent after the mid-air collision in Washington, DC between a commercial airline and a military helicopter, killing 97 people.

At a time like this, consumers are looking for communication that comes from the heart. Therefore, the response has raised questions about the genuine nature of the response, including questions about whether the content was picked up via an AI prompt.  

Communications expert Karthik Srinivasan breaks down the similarities in the two messages. He also points out that such communiques are rarely written by the CEO but by the marcomm teams.

Take a look at the two videos for comparison. At the time of writing, the video by Air India was still up on its Twitter handle. The video does not seem to be available on the Air India newsroom site. The video below is the Air India CEO, Campbell Wilson's statement.

The statement below is by American Airlines CEO Robert Isom in January 2025.