Budget airline SpiceJet on July 6 said that the most recent incidents of emergency landings of its aircraft are isolated in nature and that its initial investigation shows that there isn't a specific maintenance issue within its fleet, the airline told CNBC TV-18.
The statement by the airline comes after India's aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a show-cause notice to the airline over ‘poor safety oversight’.
The DGCA found that SpiceJet has failed to establish a safe, efficient and reliable air service. The regulator has been called upon by the accountable manager of SpiceJet to show cause within three weeks as to why action should not be taken against the airline.
SpiceJet also told CNBC TV-18 that investigations are being carried out as per norms into the recent grounding of its aircraft.
"We are an IATA-IOSA-certified airline. SpiceJet successfully completed the meticulous audit program for recertification in October 2021. We have been regularly audited by DGCA. All our aircraft were audited a month ago by the regulator and found to be safe. All of SpiceJet are conducted in compliance with the applicable regulations of the DGCA Civil Aviation Regulations on the subject,” SpiceJet said in a statement.
The cash-strapped airline added that preventive actions are formulated, implemented, and audited frequently to ensure no recurrence of a similar nature occurs in the future.
The DGCA in its own review transpired poor internal safety oversight and inadequate maintenance actions by SpiceJet. It was found that the supplier and approved vendors were not being paid on a regular basis. The DGCA review also showed a 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 realized after take-off that its weather radar was not working.
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