Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a show cause notice to low-cost airline SpiceJet today over ‘poor safety oversight’.
Amid recent incidents of emergency landings, the regulator has found that SpiceJet has failed to establish a safe, efficient and reliable air service. The accountable manager of SpiceJet has been called upon to show cause within three weeks as to why action should not be taken.
Also Read: SpiceJet freighter aircraft returns to Kolkata due to its unserviceable weather radar
DGCA review transpired poor internal safety oversight and inadequate maintenance actions. It was found that the supplier, approved vendors were not being paid on a regular basis. The DGCA review also showed shortage of spares and the airline operating on cash and carry.
SpiceJet has reported three safety incidents in the last 24 hours and at least the eighth incident of technical malfunction happening on aircraft just within the last 18 days.
The low-cost-carrier on Tuesday reported that its Delhi-Dubai flight was diverted to Karachi in the wake of 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 airline also said that its freighter aircraft, which was heading to Chongqing in China, returned to Kolkata on Tuesday as the pilots realised after take off that its weather radar was not working.
Other technical difficulties the SpiceJet has been plagued include smoke being seen in the cabin of its flight from Delhi to Jabalpur on July 2. According to preliminary investigations, there was an oil leak in one of the engines of the Q400 aircraft, which is most likely what caused the smoke in the cabin.
On June 25, a SpiceJet Q400 aircraft halted its take-off roll at Patna airport when the plane's fuselage door warning light illuminated. The alert was discovered to have originated from the luggage door at the back of the aeroplane.
A similar problem occurred on a SpiceJet Q400 flight (Guwahati-Kolkata) the day before the June 25 incident. When it was on 'rotation,' the fuselage warning light illuminated, requiring them to abandon their travels and return. The flight's pilots discovered that the alert was coming from the luggage door in the back of the plane.
Also Read: Dubai-bound SpiceJet flight makes emergency landing at Karachi; DGCA orders probe
On June 19, the airline had two incidents. In the first, an engine of the carrier's Delhi-bound jet carrying 185 people caught fire shortly after takeoff from Patna airport, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing minutes later. The engine failed due to a bird strike.
On May 20, around six flights of the cash-strapped airline were delayed as the airline didn’t clear its payments in advance. The airline had attributed the delays in payment to an attempted ransomware attack on the night of May 19.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has put SpiceJet on cash-and-carry mode, which requires it to make daily payments for facilities provided at airports.
The struggling airline’s accumulated losses stood ar around Rs 5,478 crore at the end of December 2021, while its liabilities exceeded assets by around Rs 6,347 crore during the same period.
SpiceJet has also deferred its earnings for the quarter ending March 2022, citing the ransomware attack the reason for the delays in coming out with its result. The steep rise in fuel prices in the last few months is expected to further hurt the airline’s financials even more.
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