Operations, safety processes found to be strong by international body ICAO: SpiceJet
Dec 05, 2022
New Delhi [India], December 5 : SpiceJet's operations, safety processes and systems have been found to be in order following an exhaustive audit conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the carrier said in a statement on Monday.
The comprehensive audit by ICAO firmly establishes SpiceJet's credentials which it said in the statement as a "safe airline".
ICAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations to promote the safe and orderly development of international civil aviation around the world.
SpiceJet was the only scheduled Indian airline part of the audit conducted by ICAO under the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) Continuous Monitoring Approach. The audit of SpiceJet safety systems helped India achieve its highest-ever safety ranking in the ICAO audit.
Giving details about the audit, the statement said the Auditing Committee visited the SpiceJet Head Office on November 14, 2022, from where all SpiceJet flights are controlled, and the SpiceJet flight dispatch offices at Delhi Airport.
They audited and reviewed the various flight critical functions and operational areas such as flight planning, weather assessment, route planning, aircraft serviceability, operations to critical airports, pilot rostering systems, and cabin safety procedures, the statement added.
"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," said Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director of SpiceJet.
"We are proud that SpiceJet was the only scheduled Indian airline to undergo validation checks by ICAO in this audit. SpiceJet is truly humbled at playing a role in India achieving the highest ever safety ranking and making it to the top 50 nations in terms of ICAO aviation safety audit scores. This audit is a testament to the highest standard of safety followed by SpiceJet."
"All credit for this remarkable achievement and India's best-ever performance goes to our Hon'ble Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, who with his inspiring leadership, untiring efforts and dedication has helped Indian aviation scale new heights," Singh added.
For the record, SpiceJet had been going through a highly turbulent phase in recent times on account of several glitches and a non-adherence to mandated guidelines in regard to the training of some pilots.
It all started in April 2022 when the aviation watchdog the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) restrained 90 pilots of the airline from operating Boeing 737 Max aircraft, after finding they were not properly trained. That was followed by multiple snags in its aircraft.
