8 GoAir flights grounded in 20 days; airline says schedule unaffected

On an average, an Airbus aircraft flies eight trips every day. “With this calculation, around 64 flights would be rescheduled every day owing to grounding of these aircraft,” said aviation expert Vipul Saxena.

GoAir, the country’s fifth largest domestic airline by passenger-share, has grounded eight aircraft over the past 20 days. While experts said this amounts to approximately 64 flights being rescheduled every day, the airline has denied that this has affected their services.

The airline, which has a 9% share in the domestic market, however, did not comment on the number of flights that were rescheduled owing to the grounding of the aircraft (AFP)

According to flight tracking site flightradar24, the eight grounded aircraft are registered as VT- WGC (Neo aircraft), VT- WAL, VT- GOL, VT- GOT, VT-GOK, VT-WAH (Neo), VT-WGG (Neo) and VT-WGX (Neo).

On an average, an Airbus aircraft flies eight trips every day. “With this calculation, around 64 flights would be rescheduled every day owing to grounding of these aircraft,” said aviation expert Vipul Saxena.

The airline, which has a 9% share in the domestic market, however, did not comment on the number of flights that were rescheduled owing to the grounding of the aircraft. “None of the GoAir flights have been affected or cancelled owing to non-availability of aircraft. Yes, there are a few aircraft that are undergoing maintenance and by that virtue they are on-ground. GoAir always cares for the safety of its passengers and the maintenance is a manifestation of our safety measures,” said a GoAir spokesperson.

Aciation safety expert Mohan Ranganathan, however, said that grounding of eight aircraft at once, for such a long period is unusual. “An aircraft undergoes four types of checks — A, B, C and D. D check is a major one and does not require more than two weeks to be completed. Scheduling of any regular maintenance of an aircraft is mostly done in a way that they are repaired one after the other. It is very unlikely for an airline to ground eight of its aircraft together for a scheduled major check that would require more than two weeks.”

“Neo aircraft are new in the market and hence, they would not require any major checks (like C and D check), which are done after an aircraft has completed certain hours of flying,” Ranganathan added.

Senior airline officials said that any change in flight schedule has to be approved by the aviation regulator- Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).