SpiceJet denies claims of windshield crack on plane, says no surprise audit by DGCA

After observing 8 emergency landings in last 18 days, it was recently reported that a SpiceJet aircraft encountered a windshield crack soon after it took off. However, SpiceJet has refused any such mishap.

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The homegrown budget airline - SpiceJet, refused the claims of windshield cracking in of its aircrafts, minutes after it took off from Chennai to Shirdi. The airlines call the report false, which claims that the windshield of a SpiceJet cracked on Monday, while another flight plying to Srinagar from Mumbai was delayed by six hours as DGCA conducted a surprise inspection. Spicejet spokesperson quoted, no such audit has been performed.  Also, if an inspection has to be done by DGCA, the company would’ve been informed beforehand. "No incident of windshield crack was reported on SpiceJet`s Chennai-Shirdi flight on Sunday as has been reported by a section of the media. The news item is strongly denied by SpiceJet," he added.

Also, recently Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India's aviation regulator has issued show cause notice to SpiceJet as the airliner reported 8 eight malfunction incidents in last 18 days.

"SpiceJet has failed to establish safe, efficient and reliable air services under Aircraft Rules, 1937", DGCA said in a statement. "The review (of incidents) transpires that poor internal safety oversight and inadequate maintenance actions (as most of the incidents are related to either component failure or system related failure) have resulted in degradation of the safety margins," the notice stated.

"Financial assessment carried out by DGCA in September 2021 has also revealed that the airline is operating on 'cash-and-carry' (model) and suppliers/ approved vendors are not being paid on a regular basis leading to shortage of spares and frequent invoking of MELs (minimum equipment lists)," it stated.

Commenting on the DGCA's show cause notice to SpiceJet, India's Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said "Passenger safety is paramount". "Even the smallest error hindering safety will be thoroughly investigated & course-corrected," he said in a tweet.

With inputs from ANI.