The notice states that poor maintenance, and failure to pay vendors for spare parts, results in the airline going bad
The notice states that poor maintenance, and failure to pay vendors for spare parts, results in the airline going bad
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Wednesday issued a show-cause notice to SpiceJet for its failure to offer “safe, efficient and reliable” air services. The regulator has also warned the airline that its permit to operate commercial flights in the country is valid only for one more year.
The DGCA has given three weeks time to SpiceJet’s responsible manager i.e. its chairman and managing director Ajay Singh to reply as to why action should not be taken against the airline.
The notice comes a day after the airline faced at least three incidents, including Diversion of Delhi-Dubai flight for Karachi due to a fuel indicator malfunction, a broken windshield on the Kandla-Mumbai flight, and a weather radar snag Forced a turnback on his cargo plane flying from Kolkata to Chongqing. mess on tuesday Take the total number of incidents related to SpiceJet from May 1 to 8.
“Whereas the incidents reported on aircraft operated by M/s SpiceJet Ltd from 1st April 2022 till now have been updated and it has been observed that on several occasions the aircraft either returned to its originating station or continued landing for the destination Degraded safety margin,” said the notice to Sanit Kumar, Director Air Safety, DGCA.
Safety of passengers paramount: Jyotiraditya Scindia
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said in a tweet that the safety of passengers is of paramount importance and that “even the smallest error obstructing safety will be thoroughly investigated and rectified”.
The DGCA attributed the security lapse at SpiceJet to poor internal security inspections, failure to maintain its aircraft as well as poor financials.
“Whereas, the financial appraisal conducted by DGCA in September, 2021 also revealed that the airline is operating on cash and carry and payments are not being made to the suppliers/approved vendors on regular basis, leading to shortage of spares. And MEL is being invoked again and again. [minimum equipment list],
A MEL is a document that an airline seeks to relieve from a regulator when all the equipment on an aircraft is not operated. It specifies which equipment may be allowed to be inoperative, along with any procedures that are required for an aircraft to operate under specific conditions, while maintaining airworthiness.
The regulator has also said that it has authorized SpiceJet to conduct commercial operations till May 16, 2023 – an implied warning that its permit may be revoked.