SpiceJet was under the radar of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) due to multiple safety concerns. Recently, the low-cost carrier claimed that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has audited its safety standards and maintained that everything is perfect with the airlines. In what seems to be a big blow to SpiceJet’s attempts to reaffirm its stand on passenger safety, ICAO has stated that it has not audited any airline.
Also Read: DGCA Cuts Down SpiceJet Flights by 50% for Eight Weeks After Repeated Incidents
The official ICAO website has made it clear that it is never into the business of auditing any airline or airport in any country. The United Nations specialised agency is responsible for setting up standards and regulations for civil aviation.
“As part of an ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission, ICAO teams conduct industry visits to verify the effectiveness of the civil aviation authority’s safety oversight. This will include visits to multiple operators. ICAO wishes to clarify that visits to these operators are not an audit or inspection at all,” it said.
“Operator” in the above statement refers to SpiceJet, which is the only airline that the ICAO team paid a visit to when it was in India between Nov 9-16, 2022. However, the agency had nothing to do with SpiceJet; instead it was here to examine the efficacy of DGCA’s safety oversight. And, needless to say, it visited the SpiceJet office on November 14 in this very regard.
“It had nothing whatsoever to do with SpiceJet and its safety standards, however good or bad,” said a senior official, requesting anonymity.
However, the press statement from SpiceJet on December 5 was opposite altogether. “The ICAO audit is the benchmark of safety. We are proud that our safety culture, systems, processes and operations have been found to be in order and at par with the global best practices and safety standards. This audit is a testament to the highest standard of safety followed by SpiceJet,” said Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director of SpiceJet.
Soon, the airline rolled out an email to its passengers with the title, “You are in safe hands. And we aren’t the ones saying it!”. It further added that “ICAO audit validates SpiceJet’s high safety standards.” When enquired about this fiasco, SpiceJet did not respond.
Earlier this year, SpiceJet was put under “enhanced surveillance” list of the DGCA due to several technical issues it was facing. It remained under “enhanced surveillance” list till October and during these three months, it was allowed to operate only 50 percent flights of its overall capacity. Reportedly, it was due to this reputation damage that the ICAO audit of DGCA functioning came about in November, and SpiceJet claimed to have cleared the ICAO audit.
A senior official said, “ICAO is arguably one of the most misunderstood aviation organisations, and the SpiceJet case has shown how airlines can leverage that to their benefit.”
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