- Hearteningly, the air traffic has taken off spectacularly in the last few months after suffering debilitatingly for two years or so courtesy of the pandemic. Ever since the international borders were thrown open for passengers, the air traffic has witnessed a significant rise to complement domestic travellers too. However, there are certain concerns raised over the last few months about the safety aspects of the aircraft since the flying machines were literally grounded for so long. The maintenance and replacing of spare parts are definitely an issue that is bound to cause concerns for the airline industry. Some incidents over the last few days involving SpiceJet have raised serious concerns about the poor internal safety oversight and inadequate maintenance.
PC: Psychologicalscience
- No sooner than the incidents were reported, India’s civil aviation regulator Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a show-cause notice to SpiceJet after reviewing a series of incidents reported from April 1 in aircrafts’ operated by it. Prima facie it appears there has been a degradation in safety margin. Most worryingly, there have been at least seven instances reported since May where there has been a question about SpiceJet. Alarmingly, the worst day was July 05 when there were three instances, including one where a Delhi-Dubai flight had to be diverted to Karachi, Pakistan after it developed a snag. Note that none of these maintenance and safety issues have arisen overnight as there were red flags noticed for a while intermittently.
- Delving further into the matter would reveal that in SpiceJet’s annual report, the auditor’s report came with qualifications raising doubts about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Also, undisputed statutory dues such as PF and GST had not been regularly deposited. Of course, financial stress inevitably leads to other compromises. DGCA, therefore, conducted a financial assessment in September 2021 to ascertain the anomalies. The finding showed that suppliers are not being paid regularly and that has led to a shortage of spares. Note that the Government of India informed Rajya Sabha in March that there have been investigations into 49 air accidents since 2016. And what did the findings show?
PC: Business Today Desk
- It showed that the main reasons for accidents were a failure on the part of the cockpit crew to stick to standard operating procedures, technical defects, and factors related to the weather and ATC. Indeed, DGCA primarily deals with safety issues. Its record has been mixed though. You may be aware that in 2013-14, the US Federal Aviation Authority decided to downgrade Indian civil aviation from category I to category II after an audit brought out shortcomings in safety and maintenance. No wonder, it had an adverse impact on the international plans of some Indian carriers. Since then, matters have improved, and a recent US FAA audit reportedly went off well too. Thus, DGCA’s primary responsibility is to take timely action to make sure that Indian flyers are guaranteed safety standards that match the very best. The time is now to act and act fast.
