SpiceJet will have to operate limited number of flights as a precaution: DGCA

Aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has insisted that SpiceJet Airlines will have to operate a limited number of flights for the time being as a precaution. According to the DGCA, the restrictions have been extended as an ‘extra precaution’. The airline has been asked to operate only 50 per cent aircraft by October 29, 2022. The DGCA had in July ordered SpiceJet to operate a maximum of 50 per cent of the approved summer flights for eight weeks in the wake of several incidents of technical snag. The DGCA had issued show cause notices to the airline in respect of at least eight incidents of technical failure in the aircraft of this airline.

In the first week of July, a SpiceJet flight from Delhi to Dubai had to divert towards Karachi due to a fault in the indicator light. Two days before this, the upper windshield of the SpiceJet aircraft, which was flying from Kandal in Gujarat to Mumbai, had cracked during the flight on Tuesday, due to which the aircraft had to make a priority landing. According to aviation sources, there were safety-related concerns in the SpiceJet aircraft which were brought to the notice of the regulator. Some other incidents were related to door warning, bird collision, oil leakage from engine etc.