The DGCA said that the civil aviation sector of the country is “absolutely safe” and all protocols laid down by ICAO are followed.
The DGCA said that the civil aviation sector of the country is “absolutely safe” and all protocols laid down by ICAO are followed.
Aviation watchdog DGCA chief Arun Kumar said on July 31 that the technical glitches faced by domestic carriers in recent weeks do not have the potential to cause havoc and even foreign airlines visiting India have taken a hit in the last 16 days. 15 technical faults have been reported.
The civil aviation sector of the country isabsolutely safe“And all the protocols laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) are followed,” he said.
Against the backdrop of technical snags faced by Indian airlines in recent weeks and SpiceJet’s DGCA cuts in operations, Kumar insisted there was no need to panic as none of the incidents reported/discussed It doesn’t have the potential to cause havoc.
Kumar said, “All faults experienced are routine and happen with all airlines and all types of fleets. In the last 16 days, even for foreign operators coming to India, we have seen 15 technical glitches, that have been corrected.” Told PTI in an interview.
Specific details about the disruptions faced by the foreign carriers were not disclosed.
According to Kumar, the roadblocks faced by foreign operators were similar to those of Indian carriers.
In recent days, more than a dozen examples of Indian carriers experiencing technical glitches have gone public, notably In case of SpiceJetAnd the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is keeping a close watch on the developments.
Kumar said, “Most of them (recent incidents of technical fault) required replacement of some components due to troubleshooting, cracking of the outer layer, faulty valves, high pressure switch, landing gear uplock, hydraulic accumulator or an engine. was needed.”
The regulator has initiated a two-month special audit of airlines to sort out potential issues and curtailed SpiceJet’s operations, among other measures, amid a spurt in technical glitches.
After being badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the domestic civil aviation sector is on a recovery path and on an average, Indian airspace handles over 6,000 aircraft movements per day. If planes flying from above are also taken into account, there will be more than 7,000 activities in total.
Aircraft movements include landing as well as departure.
According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, in the three-month period from April 1 to June 30 this year, a total of 150 incidents occurred in aircraft operated by scheduled airlines due to component and system malfunctions.
During the period from May 2 to July 13, DGCA conducted a special drive of 353 spot checks.
Emphasizing that the aviation sector is “process-driven”, Kumar said, “An aircraft has hundreds of thousands of components and if there is a problem with one or two components, it does not always mean that High risk or likely to be fatal events”.
He also said that it would be naive to assume that an aircraft, which takes 40-50 thousand hours of flight until it is airworthy, will not have a technical fault.
On July 27, the DGCA directed SpiceJet to operate only 50% of its flights for eight weeks and decided to put the airline under more surveillance in the wake of a technical snag in the carrier’s aircraft.
On the same day, SpiceJet issued a statement saying that due to the current low travel season, the airline had already rescheduled its flight operations and there would be absolutely no impact on its flight operations.
Responding to reservations expressed in some quarters of DGCA’s action against SpiceJet not being strong enough, Kumar said, “I am not here to shut down airlines. My role is to take measures to ensure safe and efficient flight.” To do”.
The DGCA chief also mentioned that the fleet of Indian carriers is mostly young as compared to many other countries. “The focus is always on safety and to ensure that no situation is allowed to worsen”.
The safety monitoring process of DGCA includes monitoring, spot checks and regulatory audits included in the annual monitoring programme.
On July 28, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia told the Lok Sabha that a total of 478 technical glitches were reported in the last one year from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022.