Can incidents involving SpiceJet be brushed aside as blip?

It is not every day that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the regulatory body that deals with India’s air safety, issues show-cause notice to an airline for allegedly failing to establish “safe, efficient and reliable air services”.

One such notice went to SpiceJet on Wednesday. The the Ajay Singh-led airline was involved in nine air safety incidents since May 1st. 

Three of those were reported on July 5 alone, which included a flight diversion to Karachi. On July 2nd, another SpiceJet plane returned to Delhi due to smoke in the cabin. Meanwhile, a Vistara aircraft suffered an engine snag after landing in Delhi from Bangkok on July 6th. 

Speaking to Business Standard, aviation safety expert Captain Amit Singh said, there has been a general rise in incidents in last 6 months. We‘ve seen accidents with trainer aircraft, small planes and helicopters. But the Indian aviation industry is apperently happy with doing the bare minimum.

The 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”.

In response, SpiceJet said all its aircraft were audited a month ago by the regulator and found to be safe. Ajay Singh said a lot of these incidents are trivial in nature and happen to every airline.

DGCA chief Arun Kumar too said that about 30 flight incidents happen every day in the country and a majority of them have no safety implication. However, the strong words used by DGCA in its notice to SpiceJet have raised an alarm. 

A review of incidents by the watchdog showed “poor internal safety oversight and inadequate maintenance actions” by the airline. 

During a financial review of the airline in September, it found that SpiceJet’s suppliers were not being paid regularly leading to a shortage of spares.

Captain Amit Singh said, DGCA’s comments on SpiceJet highlights systemic failure. Regulator’s action is coming too late, said, adding that DGCA has regulations in place, but implementation is the problem.

Last month, the DGCA suspended operations of two flying training schools due to serious safety concerns including unsafe runway and dysfunctional fuel gauge indicators on aircraft.

However, Indian civil aviation currently enjoys the highest safety rating from the US Federal Aviation Authority. India is reportedly set to retain the Category I rating as the FAA completed its latest audit of DGCA in April.

In 2014, when the FAA downgraded India’s safety ratings, Indian airlines like Jet Airways and Air India faced multiple restrictions including a bar on expanding flights to the US while their existing flights faced extra checks.

The International Civil Aviation Organization, a specialised agency of the United Nations, is also expected to conduct an audit of India's air safety readiness sometime later this year. 

In recent years, there has been a growing talk of India having an international transit hub like the one in Dubai. Also, India is projected to become the third largest aviation market in terms of passengers by 2024. All of this means more passengers and flights and so it is doubly urgent to find a lasting solution to flight safety issues.