DGCA warns SpiceJet over safety, reliability
NEW DELHI: The aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday issued a show cause notice to low cost carrier- SpiceJet stating that the airline has failed to establish safe, efficient and reliable air services in wake of the flight carrier reporting various incidents involving technical snags.
Meanwhile, a Delhi-bound Vistara flight from Bangkok landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Tuesday on a single-engine following an “electrical malfunction”, officials said on Wednesday
In case of SpiceJet, the most recent incident involving a technical snag took place on Tuesday, when SpiceJet’s freighter aircraft, which was heading to Chongqing in China, returned to Kolkata as the pilots realised after take off that its weather radar was not working.
This is at least eighth such incident of technical malfunction happening on a SpiceJet aircraft in the last 18 days.
“On July 5, 2022, SpiceJet Boeing 737 freighter was scheduled to operate from Kolkata to Chongqing. After take-off, the weather radar was not showing the weather. The PIC (pilot-incommand) decided to return to Kolkata. The aircraft landed safely at Kolkata,” SpiceJet spokesperson told PTI on Wednesday.
Following the notice, SpiceJet said it will now be “doubly careful” and strengthen inspection of aircraft before they leave to operate flights, airline’s CMD Ajay Singh told news agency PTI on Wednesday.
“We will work with them (DGCA) to ensure that if they feel that there are any gaps at all in our system, we will address them. There is nothing more important than safety,” Singh said. He said none of the inci- dents that have happened in the last few weeks have anything to do with shortage of spare parts.
“A lot of these incidents that are being reported are relatively minor in nature and happen to every airline. This is nothing unique,” he said.
When you have thousands of
flights, sometimes the air conditioning will fail, sometimes a bird will hit the plane, and sometimes a fuel indicator will light up, he said.
“These things are going to happen and, of course, we have to minimise that to the greatest extent possible. That is our job and it is the regulator’s job to push us to make things better, which we will do,” he said.
When asked what changes SpiceJet will now undertake to deal with the safety concerns, he said, “We have to be doubly careful. We will rigorously inspect aircraft when they leave for a flight, which we already do, but we will strengthen the inspection.”
He said SpiceJet has asked the DGCA to take a look into the working of the airline because the processes that it follows have been audited several times by the regulator and in the 15 years that SpiceJet has flown, there has been nothing significant that has really transpired on its aircraft.
On July 5 itself, the airline’s Delhi-Dubai flight was diverted to Karachi due to a malfunctioning fuel indicator and its Kandla-Mumbai flight did priority landing in Maharashtra’s capital city after cracks developed on its windshield mid-air.
The DGCA has asked SpiceJet to explain why action should not be taken against them and has asked for a reply within three weeks.
“The reported incidents on aircraft operated by M/s Spicejet Ltd. from April 1, 2022 till date have been reviewed and it has been observed that at a number of occasions, the aircraft either turned back to its originating station or continued landing to the destination with degraded safety margins,’’ the notice read.
Sharing the notice on his official Twitter account, union minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M Scindia said passenger safety is paramount.
“Even the smallest error hindering safety will be thoroughly investigated & course- corrected”, he added.
THE DGCA IN ITS NOTICE TO SPICEJET SAID THAT ITS REVIEW REVEALS POOR INTERNAL SAFETY OVERSIGHT AND INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE ACTIONS
The DGCA in its notice said that their review reveals that poor internal safety oversight and inadequate maintenance actions (as most of the incidents are related to either component failure or system related failure) has resulted in degradation of the safety margins.
The aviation regulator further stated that the financial assessment carried out by DGCA in September, 2021 has also revealed that the airline is operating on ‘Cash and Carry’ and suppliers/ approved vendors are not being paid on a regular basis leading to shortage of spares and frequent invoking of minimum equipment list (MEL).
A cash and carry status implies financial stress for the airline.
The cash and carry format implies that the credit facility by the Airports Authority of India ( AAI) has been withdrawn because SpiceJet could not clear dues and they have to pay every day to the AAI for airport user fees in order to continue operations.
“From the above it may be deduced that M/s Spicejet Ltd. has failed to establish a safe, efficient and reliable air services under terms of Rule 134 and Schedule XI of the Aircraft Rules, 1937. Now, therefore, the Accountable Manager of M/s Spicejet Ltd., is hereby called upon to Show Cause within 3 weeks of receipt of this Notice as to why action should not be taken against the airline. In case no reply is received within the stipulated period, the matter will be proceeded ex-parte.,”
DGCA’s notice concluded.
In the Vistara incident, the A320 Aircraft VT-TNJ was operating as flight UK-122 (BKKDEL) on Tuesday.
The flight was uneventful and landed on runway 10 at Delhi airport. Post runway vacation Engine 2 was shut down for single-engine taxiing.
The Air traffic control (ATC) was informed and a tow truck was requested. Subsequently, the aircraft was towed to the parking bay.
The matter was reported to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
The plane was towed from the taxi bay to the parking bay.
“After landing in Delhi, while taxiing to the parking bay, our flight UK122 (BKK-DEL) had a minor electrical malfunction on July 5, 2022. Keeping passenger safety and comfort in mind the crew elected to tow the aircraft to the bay,” said Vistara spokesperson.