SpiceJet on Wednesday announced that they had cancelled 14 flights after the DGCA issued an order to ground all Boeing 737-MAX 8 aircraft and banned them from the Indian airspace from 4 pm.
In a statement, SpiceJet said, “Consequent to the regulatory directive on the Boeing 737 Max, SpiceJet has already initiated grounding of its Max fleet. In order to cause the least inconvenience to its passengers and also bring these aircraft to its maintenance base we expect to complete this exercise on or before 4 pm today.”
“SpiceJet has presently announced the cancellation of 14 flights for today and will be operating additional flights from tomorrow,” the statement added.
It further said, “Of the 76 planes in our fleet, 64 aircraft are in operations and we are confident of minimizing the inconvenience to our passengers and attain normalcy in our operations. While a majority of passengers affected as a result of these cancellations have been accommodated by SpiceJet on alternate flights, rest have been offered a full refund.”
“Safety and security of our passengers, crew and operations are of utmost importance to us and we are closely working with the regulator and manufacturer to resolve the matter,” it said.
An official of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday said that all Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft will be grounded in India by 4 pm.
The Civil aviation ministry has called an emergency meeting of all airlines at 4 pm today over the grounding of Boeing 737-Max planes.
A statement by the ministry of civil aviation states, “In continuation to the decision of DGCA to ground the B737 Max operations, further clarification follows. B737Max operations Will stop from/to all Indian airport’s. Additionally, no B737 Max aircraft will be allowed to enter or transit Indian airspace effective 1600hrs IST or 1030 UTC. “
It further said, “the timeline is to cater to situations where aircraft can be positioned at maintenance facilities & international flights can reach their destinations.”
