Over 24,000 technical snags reported by airlines in 2017: Jayant Sinha

Civil Aviation Minister said that the technical snags in airlines have gone up from 15,048 in 2014 to 21,500 in 2016.

New Delhi: Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha on Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that a total of 24,791 defects/snags were reported by various airlines in 2017 in connection with the recent grounding of 11 Airbus 320 neo aircraft. Out of the 11 grounded planes, eight belonged to Indigo Airlines and three to Wadia group's Go Air. 

Civil Aviation minister Jayant Sinha said that technical snags in airlines have gone up from 15,048 in 2014 to 21,500 in 2016. 

A total of 24,791 "defects/snags" were reported by airlines in 2017, according to the data provided by the minister as part of a written reply. "Snags have increased due to increase in a number of aircraft in the airline and increased number of flight sectors," Sinha said.

"Technical snag (defect) means a condition existing in an aircraft (including its systems) or aircraft component arising from any cause other than damage, which would preclude it or another aircraft component from performing their intended functions or would reduce the expected service life of the aircraft or the aircraft component," Sinha added.  

Out of last year's total, Jet Airways planes had 9,689 snags, followed by SpiceJet which reported 4,903 snags and Air India group at 4,563. GoAir reported 1,888 snags, AirAsia (1,367), Vistara (1,225), Blue Dart (793), IndiGo (340) and Zoom Air (23), the data showed. 

Jet Airways had reported 6,535 snags in Boeing 737, 990 in Boeing 777 (B777), 831 in Airbus 330 (A330) and 1,333 in ATR. In the case of SpiceJet, 2,910 snags were reported with respect to Boeing 737 to Boeing 737 and 1,993 related to Bombardier Q400. 

As per the data, Air India reported 337 snags in A319, 482 in A320 and 354 in A321 planes. The number was 48 in the case of B747-400, 226 in B777 and 497 in B787. 

The national carrier's budget arm Air India reported 1,676 snags in B737 while Alliance Air's ATR-72-600 faced 943 snags last year. 

AirAsia, Vistara, and IndiGo flies A320 planes while Blue Dart operates B737 aircraft. Zoom Air has CRJ 200 planes, the data showed.

The DGCA has regulations and procedures for monitoring snags encountered during aircraft operations. These include analysing engineering statistical reports and advising the aircraft operators to take corrective actions if there is any adverse trend and conducting spot checks. 

(With agency inputs)