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Took into view SpiceJet’s capacities before imposing curb: DGCA official
Kumar’s comments came a day after the regulator capped the budget airline’s operations over a spree of incidents earlier this summer, which appeared to pose a threat to passenger safety.
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Domestic carrier SpiceJet’s summer schedule for eight weeks was restricted to half after taking into account its operations capability, engineering support and availability of technical personnel, Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) director general Arun Kumar told HT on Wednesday.
Kumar’s comments came a day after the regulator capped the budget airline’s operations over a spree of incidents earlier this summer, which appeared to pose a threat to passenger safety.
“While fixing the cap on the number of departures, we factored in their recent operations capability, engineering support, availability of technical personnel. We believe that as on date, they (airline) can provide safe and efficient aircraft operations only up to this (curtailed) level. The order is an interim one. It is unprecedented and historical as the regulator has decided to go this far for the first time,” Kumar said.
“Our objective is to ensure safe and efficient running of an airline and not simply shut down one with no major accident history. We cannot be arbitrary or whimsical in our actions,” he added.
The aviation regulator has kept SpiceJet under surveillance, the official said. “In case their systems improve further, we may restore their capacity in a graded manner,” he added.
The DGCA on Wednesday restricted SpiceJet’s summer schedule for eight weeks, on the basis of findings of its “spot checks, inspections”, and the airline’s response to a notice from it.
The move came weeks after the regulator issued a warning notice to SpiceJet, saying the budget carrier had failed to establish its services were safe, efficient and reliable after at least nine SpiceJet flights between May 1 and July 6 witnessed “incidents” ranging from cracked windscreens to malfunctioning instruments.
The decision means SpiceJet will be allowed to fly a little over 2,000 flights from the approved number of 4,192. But the airline was already operating at around 50% of its approved schedule, which means flyers are unlikely to face cancellations.
A SpiceJet spokesperson reiterated on Thursday said that none of its flights will be affected due to the restriction.
“All SpiceJet flights departed on time, as per schedule today morning. There were no flight cancellations,” the spokesperson said.
“We would like to once again reassure our passengers and travel partners that our flights will operate as per schedule in the coming days and weeks. SpiceJet is confident of scaling up its operations and addressing any concern the regulator may have on priority,” the spokesperson added.
Although the summer schedule is for the period from March 27 to October 29, passenger traffic drops off sharply starting July.
The DGCA, meanwhile, on Thursday said all airlines have posted qualified engineering personnel at all their stations after the carriers were asked to do so in the wake of spate of technical snags in recent weeks.
