Over the past couple of month the Indian airlines SpiceJet was in the news due to multiple mishaps including malfunction of components and bird strike among others.
In view of this, a special drive of spot checks were conducted from 2nd May 2022 till 6th June 2022 by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
According to a press release from the safety body, during the period, a total of 300 aircraft were inspected which included 62 operational aircraft of Spicejet fleet. The spot checks raised findings which were corrected by the airlines, DGCA noted.
Moreover, another series of spot checks were carried out on all operating aircraft of Spicejet from 9th July 2022 to13th July 2022 wherein 53 spot checks were carried out on 48 aircraft which did not raise any significant finding or safety violations.
However, as an abundant safety measure, DGCA ordered Spicejet to release certain identified ten aircraft for operations only after confirming that all reported defects or the malfunctions are rectified.
The safety regulator further issued an interim order to the airline on July 27, 2022, wherein for the continued sustenance of safe and reliable air transport service, the number of departures of the airline have been restricted to 50% of the number of departures approved under summer schedule 2022 for a period of eight weeks.
Further to avoid such mishaps to occur again, DGCA noted that the Government has sensitised the scheduled airlines to give utmost importance to safety of operations and has taken various steps including, increasing their engineering related capabilities at all base stations and transit stations, conducting audits and spot checks and to take appropriate mitigation action and greater internal surveillance to ensure safety of air operations.