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'Vested interest': IndiGo on smoke news; Jet Airways CEO says, 'Don't go by hearsay'
IndiGo on Thursday claimed what was misreported as smoke inside the cabin of the Raipur-Indore flight could be the mist created by the internal system. Jet Airways CEO Sanjiv Kapoor said an 'astounding number of 'uninformed drivel' is there on social media
In the wake of the back-to-back reports of aviation incidents, an IndiGo spokesperson said the airline has not seen any malfunction in the last few days. Among a spate of incidents reported in SpiceJet flights, smoke inside the cabin on a Raipur-Indore flight was reported which the airline dismissed. "Seems vested interests of some folks to spread fake news around this creating confusion and inconvenience for customers! Have to say poor spirit of sportsmanship. Competition is healthy when it's won on merit," the spokesperson tweeted.
Jet Airways CEO Sanjiv Kapoor on Thursday expressed surprise over the aviation reports and said an astounding number of 'uninformed drivel' is there on social media. "The amount of uninformed drivel I have seen on social media last 24 hours on matters relating to aviation safety and glitches, is astounding. Genuine issues and non-issues conflated and given equal coverage. Folks, please seek out informed, expert opinions. Don't go by hearsay," he tweeted.
On Thursday, Indigo issued a statement regarding the reports of smoke and clarified that it was the mist created by the HVAC system. "There have also been statements made on inflight shut down of engines on IndiGo flights. There have been no such incidents on our aircraft in the recent past. We strongly refute these reports, which seem to have been falsely propagated by entities with a vested interest, to mislead customers and authorities," the statement read.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation issued a showcause notice to Spicejet after eight mid-air accidents involving its aircraft were reported in 18 days, the last being a technical malfunction on a freight aircraft headed to Chongqing in China. It had to return to Kolkata because of weather issues. The DGCA's notice stated that SpiceJet has "failed to establish safe, efficient and reliable air services" under the terms of Rule 134 and Schedule XI of the Aircraft Rules, 1937.
SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh told ANI on average, 30 incidents happen in airlines every day. SpiceJet is running a safe airline for 15 years. The kind of incidents being talked about are trivial and happen on a daily basis in airlines. On average, 30 such incidents happen in airlines every day," Singh told ANI.
