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DGCA curtails 50% of SpiceJet’s summer schedule flights
The DGCA order of grounding SpiceJet aircraft came after the aviation regulator sent a show cause notice to the airline over a series of technical malfunction incidents
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday curtailed SpiceJet’s summer schedule flights by half for eight weeks from March 27 to October 29 after several of its planes reported technical malfunction recently. DGCA in its order to SpiceJet also said that the airline will be subjected to “enhanced surveillance” by the aviation regulator during these eight weeks.
The order of grounding the aircraft came after DGCA sent a show cause notice to SpiceJet over a series of technical malfunction incidents. SpiceJet submitted their reply to the show cause notice on July 25, DGCA said.
“In view of findings of various spot checks, inspections and the reply to the show cause notice submitted by M/s SpiceJet, for continued sustenance of safe and reliable air transport service, the number of departures of M/s SpiceJet are hereby restricted to 50% of the number of departures approved under Summer Schedule 2022 for a period of 8 weeks from the date of issue of this order..’ the order said.
According to DGCA data, the airline filed 4,192 departures (flights) per week in summer schedule. “It was, however, operating only 50% (2096) weekly flights (around 300 daily flights) which will not have an impact on the airline operations or have any discomfort for the passengers,” an airline official requesting anonymity said.
A SpiceJet spokesperson confirmed that the airline had received the DGCA’s order. “.. We will act as per directions of the regulator. Due to the current lean travel season, SpiceJet like other airlines had already rescheduled its flight operations. Hence, there will be absolutely no impact on our flight operations,” he said.
“We want to reassure our passengers and travel partners that our flights will operate as per schedule in the coming days and weeks,” the spokesperson said, adding that there will be no flight cancellation as a consequence of this order.
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DGCA clarified that during this period, any increase in the number of departures beyond 50% of the number of departures approved under Summer Schedule 2022 will be subject to the airline satisfying them that it has sufficient technical support and financial resources to safely and efficiently undertake such enhanced capacity.
After reviewing the airline’s reply, DGCA said that it has observed SpiceJet taking measures for arresting the trend of incidents. “.. however, the airline needs to sustain these efforts for safe and reliable air transport service,” the order said.
After a series of reported incidents, DGCA, on July 5, reviewed the airline’s performance and observed that, at several instances, their aircraft either turned back to its originating airport or continued landing to the destination with degraded safety margins.
DGCA, in its notice, also pointed out that there is poor internal safety oversight and inadequate maintenance actions, which resulted in degradation of the safety margins.
A financial assessment carried out by DGCA in September, 2021 revealed that SpiceJet is operating on ‘cash & carry’ and approved vendors are not being paid on regular basis leading to the shortage of spares and frequent invoking of minimum equipment list (MELs).
An MEL is a list of certified equipment issued by DGCA before flying. A certified aircraft maintenance engineer (AME), however, is allowed to release an aircraft for flying if certain listed equipment is not available.
