Scindia holds meet with airlines on aviation turbine fuel pricing

New Delhi [India], July 6 : Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday held a detailed discussion with the advisory group of airlines on fuel pricing (ATF) in India and abroad, along with steps to mitigate the burgeoning pressure of rising prices.

This comes after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's immediate personal intervention to reduce exorbitant airfares in the post-COVID period in both domestic and international sectors.
In a letter to PM Modi, the Kerala Chief Minister said that airfares in both the international and domestic sectors have become exorbitantly high recently, which is pulling the travel industry down and putting Non-Residents to extreme hardship.
Meanwhile, Indian carrier SpiceJet replacement aircraft arrived in Karachi from Mumbai on Tuesday evening after the airline's Dubai-bound flight from Delhi was diverted to the Pakistani city as the fuel indicator started malfunctioning.
The Boeing 737 Max aircraft will be taking passengers to Dubai. The replacement aircraft landed at 5:45 pm Pakistan time.
Earlier on Tuesday morning, a Dubai-bound SpiceJet flight from Delhi was diverted to Karachi in Pakistan as the fuel indicator started malfunctioning.
More than 150 passengers were onboard the SpiceJet flight (Delhi-Dubai) that made an emergency landing in Karachi, Pakistan after developing a technical fault.
Following this, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday ordered a probe into the incident.
"On July 5, 2022, M/s SpiceJet B737-8 Max aircraft VT-MXG while operating flight SG-011, Delhi - Dubai, the crew observed unusual fuel quantity reduction from the left tank. They carried out a relevant non-normal checklist, however fuel quantity kept on decreasing. PIC decided to divert the aircraft to Karachi (KHI). Aircraft diverted in coordination with ATC and landed safely at KHI," said DGCA statement.
SpiceJet said the flight was diverted when it was on the way to Dubai and flying on 5000 ft.
The conversation between the SpiceJet pilot and ATC Karachi which has been accessed by ANI shows that the pilot has asked for a precautionary landing after suspected fuel leakage in the aircraft.
"The SpiceJet pilot is heard telling ATC Karachi that the fuel leakage in the aircraft, requesting it for precautionary landing," ATC conversation read access by ANI.
"Karachi ATC confirming him whether any dangerous good on board. The pilots responded negatively. Later Karachi ATC confirms SpiceJet for landing after two minutes," the conversation further read.
The aircraft landed safely at Karachi airport at around 8 am (local time), 53 minutes after being airborne.
"SpiceJet has been on-ground for the past four hours. Passengers are being looked after. The plane has been parked in the designated area where engineers are assessing the problem," Pakistan's civil aviation authority (CAA) official said.
"On July 5, 2022, SpiceJet B737 aircraft operating flight SG-11 (Delhi - Dubai) was diverted to Karachi due to an indicator light malfunctioning. The aircraft landed safely at Karachi and passengers were safely disembarked," the spokesperson of the airline said.
According to SpiceJet, no emergency was declared and the aircraft made a normal landing at Karachi airport.
"No emergency was declared and the aircraft made a normal landing. There was no earlier report of any malfunction with the aircraft. Passengers have been served refreshments. A replacement aircraft is being sent to Karachi that will take the passengers to Dubai," SpiceJet spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, another aircraft of India's low-cost carrier SpiceJet reported a glitch in its Kandla - Mumbai flight on Tuesday. This is the second incident involving the airline on Tuesday.
Earlier on Saturday, a domestic flight made an emergency landing after its cabin filled with smoke soon after take-off for the central city of Jabalpur, the airline said.
A senior DGCA official said that they are investigating all six incidents on SpiceJet aircraft reported in the last 17 days.
"We are concerned over passengers' safety and a team has been formed to investigate all the incidents thoroughly and submit the report at the earliest," he said.
In the monthly report of DGCA, SpiceJet came in second in terms of flight cancellations in the month of May.
On June 19, two incidents were reported in two separate flights of SpiceJet. First, a Delhi-bound flight carrying over 185 passengers caught fire soon after take-off from Patna airport and had to make an emergency landing. The airline said a bird hit that had damaged their fan blades.
In another incident on the same day, the SpiceJet Bombardier Q400 Dash 8 plane from Delhi to Jabalpur made an emergency landing in Delhi as the cabin pressure couldn't be built up as the plane gained altitude.