SpiceJet flight held up amid surprise DGCA check
A SpiceJet flight from Mumbai to Srinagar was delayed for six hours on Saturday after a surprise inspection by the country’s aviation watchdog found some problems, forcing the airline to arrange for a different jet for the service.
The incident is the latest in a series that has put the airline in a spotlight over air safety concerns and has earned it a warning notice from the regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) last week. The outer windshield pane of another SpiceJet aircraft cracked minutes after its departure from Chennai on Sunday. The aircraft, a Boeing 737Max, departed from Chennai at around 2.20pm and landed Shirdi at around 3.40pm.
Talking about the Mumbai-Srinagar flight, a Mumbai airport official told HT: “The DGCA found that the airline was operating the flight without having 25 life jackets on board.” “However, since the boarding process hadn’t begun at the time, passengers were made to wait in the terminal building until an alternative aircraft, VT SXB, was arranged,” the official added.
