NEW DELHI: India’s aviation regulator has issued a warning notice to SpiceJet Ltd after a review of recent incidents by the watchdog showed “poor internal safety oversight and inadequate maintenance actions” by the airline.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that a review of several incidents involving SpiceJet’s planes since April 1 showed that “the aircraft either turned back to its originating station or continued landing to the destination with degraded safety margins”. On July 5 alone SpiceJet reported two mid-air problems.

In one incident, the side windshield outer pane of its Bombardier Q400 aircraft cracked mid-flight. In the second case, SpiceJet was forced to divert its Boeing 737 plane to Karachi in neighbouring Pakistan due to an indicator light malfunctioning. Both planes landed safely.

“The review transpires that poor internal safety oversight and inadequate maintenance actions has resulted in degradation of the safety margins,” the DGCA said in its letter in which it has given the airline three weeks to respond.

“From the above it may be deducted that SpiceJet has failed to establish a safe, efficient and reliable air service,” the watchdog said in its letter dated July 5 which was made public by India’s civil aviation ministry on Twitter on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2022