The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has sent the airline SpiceJet a show-cause notice after two incidences of aircraft malfunction. Jyotiraditya Scindia, the aviation minister, stated in a tweet: "Passenger safety is paramount. Even the smallest error hindering safety will be thoroughly investigated & course-corrected."
While issuing the show-cause notice, the aviation ministry stated that, "In light of the recent incidences of technical malfunction with regard to SpiceJet flights in the last 18 days, the DGCA has issued a show-cause notice to the air carrier."
SpiceJet replied, "We'll be responding within a specified time period and are committed to ensuring a safe operation for our passengers and crew. We are an IATA-IOSA-certified airline. All our aircraft were audited a month ago by the regulator and found to be safe."
In accordance with Rule 134 and Schedule XI of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, SpiceJet has failed to "establish safe, efficient and reliable aviation services," according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) notice.
"The review (of the incidents) transpires that poor internal safety oversight and inadequate maintenance actions (as most of the incidents were related to either component failure or system-related failure) have resulted in degradation of the safety margins," it continued.
The airline has been given three weeks by the DGCA to respond to the notice.
"Financial assessment carried out by DGCA in September 2021 has also revealed that the airline is operating on 'cash-and-carry' (model) and suppliers/approved vendors are not being paid on a regular basis, leading to a shortage of spares and frequent invoking of MELs (minimum equipment lists)," the notice read.
According to SpiceJet's CMD Ajay Singh, the airline would now be "doubly careful" and tighten inspection of aircraft before they depart to perform flights. Following eight mechanical fault occurrences affecting SpiceJet's aircraft in the previous 18 days, the aviation regulator DGCA issued a show-cause notice to the airline on Wednesday.
