Indian aviation industry is ‘completely safe’ : DGCA Chief

Arun Kumar, the head of aviation regulatory organisation DGCA, has stated that there is no cause to fear despite the recent increase in technical snag issues seen by domestic carriers. He continued by saying that all ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) protocols are being followed.

“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,” DGCA’s chief Kumar told PTI in an interview.

The technical difficulties seen by domestic carriers in recent weeks, according to Kumar, did not have the capacity to cause major disruptions. Even foreign airlines that flew into India recorded 15 difficulties in the previous 16 days.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, the civil aviation minister, revealed to the Lok Sabha on July 28 that 478 technical issues in total had been reported in the previous year, which ran from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022.

More than a dozen recent incidents of Indian carriers running into technical difficulties have come to light, particularly in the case of SpiceJet, and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is closely monitoring the events.

In response to an uptick in technical difficulties, the regulator has begun a two-month special assessment of airlines to identify any potential problems and has, among other things, scaled back SpiceJet’s operations.

The domestic civil aviation industry is on the mend after taking a heavy hit from the coronavirus outbreak.