Aviation watchdog DGCA has put SpiceJet under “enhanced surveillance” amid the budget airline facing multiple financial headwinds in recent months, a senior official said on Tuesday, but the carrier refuted any such development.
It also comes against the backdrop of various lessors seeking repossession of aircraft leased to SpiceJet and some of the cases have been settled by the airline. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has put SpiceJet under enhanced surveillance for more than three weeks now and it is an ongoing process, the official told PTI.
According to the regulatory official, the enhanced surveillance includes increased night surveillance and spot checks.
The focus is to ensure that due to financial issues, there are no potential adverse impact on the flight operations and that there is no “cutting corners” on safety, the official said on the condition of anonymity. The enhanced surveillance is also to check whether safety obligations are being met or not, the official added.
When contacted, a SpiceJet spokesperson said, “the information is absolutely incorrect and is strongly denied”. No such communication has been received by the airline from the DGCA, the spokesperson said in a statement.
SpiceJet, which has been facing various headwinds, has settled the issues with certain aircraft lessors. On June 21, the airline said it has entered into a settlement agreement with Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC), a lessor for its Q400 planes.
With the busy summer travel season arriving, only 61 per cent of SpiceJet’s flights departed on time from the country’s four biggest airports — Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — in May, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. That’s down from the already trailing figure of nearly 70 per cent in April, the agency’s data showed.
