Chairman and MD of SpiceJet Ajay Singh said there was nothing alarming or to be worried about amid recent incidents. Singh told India Today that these are normal course of events. He said SpiceJet is happy to work with the DGCA and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA in case of concerns. Singh said if there are any gaps in the DGCA's, we will certainly work with them. He spoke about the meeting with the DGCA and said they DGCA pointed out a number of issues and that we will address them. We are all on the same side. Safety is a priority for all of us. Singh highlighted that the airline has one of the best records in the industry. We have some of the best safety records not only in the country but around the world. He went on to say that the aviation regulator is taking cognizance of the media reports.
Singh added that the social media frenzy over these incidents is unfortunate and brings down the confidence of the travelling public in airlines. He said that none of the incidents reported have anything to do with a shortage of spare part and that the airline has been negotiating with its vendors and has no outstanding to oil companies, airports or salaries.
Singh made comments after the DGCA issued a show-cause notice to SpiceJet on Wednesday due to a spate of technical malfunctions in its aircraft over the last 18 days.
The DGCA ordered the airline to reply within 3 weeks of receipt and explain why no regulatory action should be taken against SpiceJet.
The notice said, Poor internal safety oversight and inadequate maintenance action have resulted in degradation of the safety margins because most of the incidents are related to component failure or system-related failure. SpiceJet was hit by a technical glitch on Tuesday as the Kolkata-Chongqing freight flight returned to Kolkata airport due to malfunctioning weather radar. The Delhi-Dubai flight had to be diverted to Karachi after a mid-air malfunction in the fuel indicator.