- Saturday, April 20, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
JULY 5 was a poor day for India’s second-largest carrier SpiceJet as it had a number of incidents where flights faced either technical snags or mid-air scare. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India’s civil aviation regulator, has now pulled up the carrier in the wake of eight incidents of malfunctioning in 18 days.
On Tuesday, SpiceJet faced a number of incidents. While a plane from Delhi headed for Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, had to be diverted to Karachi, Pakistan, after it developed a snag, the outer windshield pane of a turboprop flying from Kandla in Gujarat to Mumbai, Maharashtra, cracked at the height of 23,000 feet. It landed without a problem in Mumbai. In a third incident the same day, a cargo flight from SpiceJet had its weather radar malfunctioning while flying from Kolkata to China. It later landed safely in Kolkata.
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The DGCA questioned “poor internal safety” and “inadequate maintenance actions” and served a showcause notice to SpiceJet which said, “The review (of incidents) transpires that poor internal safety oversight and inadequate maintenance actions (as most of the incidents are related to either component failure or system related failure) have resulted in degradation of the safety margins.”
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In light of the recent incidences of technical malfunction with regard to @flyspicejet flights in the last 18 days, the @DGCAIndia has issued a show cause notice to the air carrier. pic.twitter.com/1umJSOPhdK
— MoCA_GoI (@MoCA_GoI) July 6, 2022
“Financial assessment carried out by DGCA in September 2021 has also revealed that the airline is operating on a ‘cash-and-carry’ (model) and suppliers/ approved vendors are not being paid on a regular basis, leading to shortage of spares and frequent invoking of MELs (minimum equipment lists),” the notice added.
The DGCA also said SpiceJet has failed to “establish a safe, efficient and reliable air service” under terms of Rule 134 and Schedule XI of the Aircraft Rules, 1937.
The regulator gave the airline three weeks to respond to its notice.
Indian civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia reacted to the DGCA’s notice saying passenger safety was paramount.
“Even the smallest error hindering safety will be thoroughly investigated & course-corrected,” he tweeted.
Passenger safety is paramount. Even the smallest error hindering safety will be thoroughly investigated & course-corrected. https://t.co/UD1dJb05wS
— Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (@JM_Scindia) July 6, 2022
SpiceJet said it will respond to the DGCA notice within the given period.
“SpiceJet is in receipt of the DGCA notice and will be responding within the specified time period. We are committed to ensuring a safe operation for our passengers and crew,” a SpiceJet spokesperson said.
“We are an IATA-IOSA certified airline. SpiceJet successfully completed the meticulous audit program for recertification in October 2021. We have been regularly audited by DGCA. All our aircraft were audited a month ago by the regulator and found to be safe. All flights of SpiceJet are conducted in compliance with the applicable regulations of the DGCA Civil Aviation Regulations on the subject,” the statement added.
Among other troubling incidents that SpiceJet flights faced in the recent times are – smoke in the cabin of a Delhi-Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) flight at the altitude of 5,000 feet on July 2 which made the crew bring the plane back to Delhi; an engine on the SpiceJet’s Delhi-bound aircraft from Patna (Bihar) carrying 185 passengers caught fire soon after the take-off on June 19 and the plane made an emergency landing minutes later; a SpiceJet flight for Jabalpur had to return to Delhi also on June 19 due to cabin pressurisation issues.
SpiceJet has been making losses for the last three years. It incurred a net loss of Rs 316 crore (£33.5 million), Rs 934 crore (£99 million) and Rs 998 crore (£106 million) in 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively.
