Aviation regulatory authority DGCA’s chief Arun Kumar on Sunday said that India’s civil aviation space is “absolutely safe” and all the protocols laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) are being followed.
Kumar also focused on the technical snags being faced by Indian airlines. He said that the technical snags faced by domestic carriers in recent weeks did not have the potential to cause havoc and that even foreign airlines that came to India reported 15 technical snags in the last 16 days.
“All the snags experienced are routine and happen with all airlines and all types of fleet. In the last 16 days, even for the foreign operators who come to India, we have seen 15 technical snags, which have been attended and rectified,” reported PTI citing Kumar.
In recent times, more than a dozen instances of Indian carriers facing technical snags have become public, especially in the case of SpiceJet, and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is keeping a close watch on the developments.
“What most of them (recent incidents of technical snags) required was troubleshooting, replacement of some component say windshield due to outer layer crack, defective valve, high-pressure switch, landing gear uplock, hydraulic accumulator or an engine,” Kumar said.
The regulator has started a two-month-long special audit of airlines to address possible issues and has curtailed the operations of SpiceJet, among other measures, amid a spurt in instances of technical snags.
After being severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the domestic civil aviation sector is on the recovery path and on average, there are more than 6,000 aircraft movements in the Indian airspace daily. If overflying planes are also taken into account, the total would be over 7,000 movements.
The safety oversight process of DGCA includes surveillance, spot check and regulatory audits embodied in the annual surveillance programme.
On July 28, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia told the Lok Sabha that a total of 478 technical snags were reported in the last one year — from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022.
