|HT|
SpiceJet on Thursday said that none of its flights were cancelled due to the restrictions on its movements announced by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday. India’s aviation regulator DGCA on Wednesday said it is restricting to half SpiceJet’s summer schedule for eight weeks, on the basis of the findings of its “spot checks, inspections”, and the airline’s response to a show cause notice from it.
SpiceJet spokesperson on Thursday said, “All SpiceJet flights departed on time, as per schedule today morning. There were no flight cancellations.”
This DGCA’s order means SpiceJet is now allowed to fly around 2096 flights from the approved number of 4,192. “In view of findings of various spot checks, inspections and the reply to the show cause notice submitted by M/s SpiceJet, for continued sustenance of safe and reliable air transport service, the number of departures of M/s SpiceJet are hereby restricted to 50% of the number of departures approved under Summer Schedule 2022 for a period 8 weeks from the date of issue of this order..’ DGCA’s order stated. It had also said the airline will be subject to “enhanced surveillance”.
However, the airline was already operating at around 50% of its approved schedule, which means flyers are unlikely to face cancellations.
The spokesperson added, “There has been absolutely no impact on our schedule following yesterday’s order by the regulator. This has been possible as SpiceJet, like other airlines, had already rescheduled its flight operations due to the current lean travel season.”
The DGCA’s decision to curtail its summer schedule flights by half came in after the regulator on July 6 issued a warning notice to SpiceJet, saying the budget carrier had failed to establish its services were safe, efficient and reliable after at least nine SpiceJet flights between May 1 and July 6 witnessed “incidents” ranging from cracked windscreens to malfunctioning instruments. “We would like to once again reassure our passengers and travel partners that our flights will operate as per schedule in the coming days and weeks. SpiceJet is confident of scaling up its operations and addressing any concern the regulator may have on priority,” the spokesperson concluded.
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