SpiceJet flights restricted: What you should know as a passenger

SpiceJet flight | Representative image

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has restricted the number of flights no-frills airline SpiceJet can operate by half for the next eight weeks. The action comes within hours of the government informing Parliament that the DGCA conducted an audit and found all of the airline’s operating aircraft to be safe. It added that 10 aircraft were grounded for repairs. The airline later said that all its aircraft were back in operation.

What does the DGCA order state?

DGCA reviewed air turnback events (where the aircraft returns to its land at the airport it departed from) and mid-air emergencies from April 1 to July 5 this year. The observations state that the aircraft turned back to the origin or continued to the destination with degraded safety margins. The order also blames the airline for lax safety oversight and maintenance actions. The DGCA audit has also revealed that suppliers are not being paid on time.

The regulator, considering everything, has decided to restrict the airline’s operations to 50 percent of its approved summer schedule for eight weeks. DGCA will conduct enhanced surveillance during this period and the airline will have to demonstrate safe operations to go beyond the 50 percent cap.

Also Read: High load factors, poor slot usage – the SpiceJet mystery

What does it mean for the passengers?

The airline had approval for 4,192 weekly departures in the summer schedule. However, the airline has the poorest compliance record when it comes to operating as per the approved schedule.

In April, the first full month of the summer schedule, the airline operated an average of 2,032 weekly flights, translating to 48.5 percent compliance. In May, which was the best month thus far since the restart of civil aviation, SpiceJet had a compliance of just 52 percent. Data for June is awaited.

SpiceJet has announced a slew of new flights since then, leading to the flight count maintaining above 50 percent of the approved schedule.

This would mean that the airline has to now cut a clutch of flights, which could translate to anywhere between 40 and 120 flights per week or 6 to 17 flights per day.

From a passenger standpoint, one does not know which these flights are, whether the airline has multiple flights on the sector or seats in the additional departures, which means passengers could be left high and dry.

Most airlines right now have a lot of flights open for sale but closer to departure, based on loads—airlines are taking a call on cancellations based on loads and ensuring that passengers are accommodated on other flights. However, this will now not be possible with the new order.

The order is also silent on the international operations but assuming that this order applies overall and not just for domestic flights, the airline could prioritise international operations over domestic, where the competition is intense. On the other hand, SpiceJet has been going through a tough time financially and international operations help earn foreign exchange. The upshot is that passengers in the domestic sector could face additional challenges.

Those already booked on SpiceJet should check with the airline on the status of their flight and if you are planning to book a SpiceJet flight, double-check that it will operate. The order was out only a while ago and it takes time to adjust for the changes since it involves analysis of which flights to cut, after which those flights are closed for sale and passengers already booked are rebooked.

The airline quickly came out with a statement stating that there would not be any impact on the operations since this has been a lean season and it is already operating below the cap asked for by the regulator.

Read More: DGCA conducts spot checks on 48 SpiceJet aircraft; finds no major safety violation: Govt

What happens to the slots?

The last couple of years have seen the slots being contested heavily. The order comes at a time when the new airline Akasa Air is about to begin operations and airports will be more than eager to hand over slots held by SpiceJet to Akasa or anybody else who intends to operate.

But this DGCA order from DGCA capping SpiceJet’s operations for eight weeks would mean that the slots also would have to be given back. This could well be a blessing in disguise for the airline. These are early days and how it pans out over the next eight weeks will be interesting to see.

Tail note

While the restrictions are in place with immediate effect, the observations around safety aren’t a good read. The airline will have to convince the flying public really fast that they run a safe ship. The last couple of incidents have not had any impact on load factors at the airline but those were times when the regulator had not said what it has said now.

In a month where traffic is sliding fast, the last thing the airline needed was a restriction. The next eight weeks also have a couple of long weekends where there is potential to add flights to tourist destinations and have incremental revenue in pocket.