Aviation regulator DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation) has issued a show cause notice to Ajay Singh-led carrier SpiceJet Ltd for alleged poor internal safety oversight and inadequate maintenance actions on its commercial flights.
As most of the incidents are related to either component failure or system related failure, such events have resulted in degradation of the safety margins, the show cause notice says.
The notice, issued on July 5, says that on numerous occasions, the aircraft either turned back to its originating station or continued landing to the destination with degraded safety margins.
Financial assessment carried out by DGCA in September, 2021 has also revealed that the airline's suppliers and vendors are not being paid on a regular basis leading to shortage of spares, it adds.
The notice, issued by the aviation watchdog, further says that SpiceJet has "failed to establish safe, efficient and reliable air services under terms of Rule 134 and Schedule XI of the Aircraft Rules, 1937."
The airline has been asked to show cause within three weeks as to why action should not be taken against the airline.
This comes a day after a SpiceJet Boeing 737 aircraft from Delhi to Dubai was forced to land in Karachi after developing a technical snag. The airline then sent a replacement aircraft to Karachi. “On July 5, 2022, SpiceJet B737 aircraft operating flight SG-11 (Delhi - Dubai) was diverted to Karachi due to an indicator light malfunctioning. The aircraft landed safely in Karachi and passengers were safely disembarked. No emergency was declared and the aircraft made a normal landing,” the company spokesperson said on Tuesday.
In a separate incident on Tuesday, a SpiceJet Q400 aircraft flying from Kandla in Gujarat to Mumbai suffered a windshield crack.
Another SpiceJet Boeing 737 cargo plane, which was scheduled to fly from Kolkata to Chongqing, returned to Kolkata due to unserviceable weather radar.
Several such incidents have happened involving SpiceJet planes in the recent past. On July 2, SpiceJet's Delhi-Jabalpur flight had to be returned as crew members observed smoke in the cabin mid-air due to oil leakage in one of its engines.
In a similar incident, a SpiceJet Boeing 737-800, with about 200 people on board, had to be returned to Patna after take-off on June 20 as sparks were observed in one of its engines following a bird hit it during the take-off.
On the previous day, in another incident involving SpiceJet, a Dash8 Q400 flight from Delhi to Jabalpur also had to be returned to Delhi after the take-off as the crew encountered a so-called 'pressurisation snag'. In December last year, SpiceJet's Max plane was returned to Mumbai after the take-off following an issue with its oil filter light.
