The lone passenger who survived the Air India crash that killed 241 people onboard couldn’t believe he was alive when he opened his eyes, surrounded by flames, debris and charred bodies.

Boeing executives, for the first time in a long while, were prepared to join in that hopefulness.

The London-bound Boeing 787 struck a medical college hostel in a residential area of the northwestern city of Ahmedabad minutes after takeoff Thursday, killing 241 people on board and at least 29 on t...