The Directorate General of Aviation Monitoring (DGCA) carried out two special drives of spot checks in the last few months to ensure the safety of flight operations, the Center informed the Rajya Sabha on August 1, following reports of several technical snags in airlines. A special campaign of spot checking was conducted from May 2 to June 6.
During this period, a total of 300 aircraft were inspected which included 62 operational aircraft of SpiceJet fleet. “Spot checks brought out findings which were corrected by the airlines. Another series of spot checks were carried out on all operational aircraft of SpiceJet from July 9 to 13, in which 53 spot checks were conducted on 48 aircraft which did not yield any significant finding. or security violation,” the Civil Aviation Ministry said in a written reply in the House.
However, as an abundant safety measure, DGCA ordered SpiceJet to release a certain number of aircraft (10) for operation, after confirming that all defects and malfunctions have been rectified.
DGCA issued an interim order to SpiceJet on July 27, 2022, limiting the number of departures of SpiceJet to 50 per cent of the number of departures allowed under the summer schedule, for continued sustenance of safe and reliable air transport service Is. 2022 for eight weeks, the ministry said.
The ministry said that DGCA ensures timely corrective action on deficiencies found during monitoring of certified operators and maintenance of their records. “There has been no lapse and hence no action is pending against the officials. The government has sensitized scheduled airlines to attach utmost importance to safety of operations and has taken various steps. Scheduled airlines to enhance their engineering related capabilities. All base stations and transit stations.”
Special audits and spot checks have been ordered by DGCA and airlines have been asked to take appropriate mitigation action and more internal monitoring to ensure the safety of air operations.
(with inputs from IANS)