India’s low-cost carrier SpiceJet will continue to operate only 50% of its scheduled departures for another month till October 29, according to a Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) order issued recently.
On July 27, the aviation regulator had ordered SpiceJet to operate at half its capacity for eight weeks after a review of its incidents had showed poor internal safety oversight and inadequate maintenance actions. While the latest review “indicated appreciable reduction in number of safety incidents”, the DGCA order said it has decided to extend the order for another month out of “abundant caution”.
“Any increase in the number of departures beyond 50% of the total number of departures approved under the summer schedule 2022, during this period shall be subject to the airline demonstrating to the satisfaction of the DGCA that it has sufficient technical support and financial resource to safely and efficiently undertake such enhanced capacity,” the DGCA order said. “During this period, the airline will continue to be under enhanced surveillance by DGCA,” it added.
SpiceJet did not comment on the latest DGCA order. The last reported incident involving SpiceJet occurred on September 1 when pilots of a Boeing 737-700 operating a flight to Nashik reported autopilot failure when the aircraft was climbing after take off from Delhi. The aircraft returned to Delhi and landed safely. But in July, the airline had three separate incidents - a cracked windshield, a suspected fuel leak and smoke in the cabin - all in the first week of the month, which led to the regulator carrying out a safety review of the airline.
