NEW DELHI
India’s Aviation regulator DGCA on Wednesday ordered SpiceJet to operate maximum 50 per cent of its flights, which were approved for summer schedule, for a period of eight weeks.
On July 6, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a show-cause notice to SpiceJet following at least eight incidents of technical malfunction in its aircraft since June 19.
“In view of the findings of various spot checks, inspections and the reply to the show cause notice submitted by SpiceJet, for continued sustenance of safe and reliable transport service, the number of departures of SpiceJet are hereby restricted to 50 per cent of the number of departures approved under summer schedule 2022 for a period of 8 weeks,” the aviation regulator’s order on Wednesday said.
The airline had approval for 4,192 weekly departures in the summer schedule. However, the airline has the poorest compliance record when it comes to operating as per the approved schedule.
In April, the first full month of the summer schedule, the airline operated an average of 2,032 weekly flights, translating to 48.5 percent compliance. In May, which was the best month thus far since the restart of civil aviation, SpiceJet had a compliance of just 52 percent. Data for June is awaited.
SpiceJet has announced a slew of new flights since then, leading to the flight count maintaining above 50 percent of the approved schedule.
This would mean that the airline has to now cut a clutch of flights, which could translate to anywhere between 40 and 120 flights per week or 6 to 17 flights per day.
From a passenger standpoint, one does not know which these flights are, whether the airline has multiple flights on the sector or seats in the additional departures, which means passengers could be left high and dry.
Most airlines right now have a lot of flights open for sale but closer to departure, based on loads—airlines are taking a call on cancellations based on loads and ensuring that passengers are accommodated on other flights. However, this will now not be possible with the new order.