Airlines faced 478 tech snags related to aircraft in 1 year

New Delhi, Feb 8 (PTI) Airlines faced 478 technical snags related to their planes in the last one year, with IndiGo experiencing 246 glitches, according to official data.

The data for the period from January 2023 to January 2024 was submitted to Lok Sabha in a written reply by Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh.

During this period, IndiGo grappled with 246 glitches while Air India faced 63 technical snags, Vistara (79), SpiceJet (47), AirAsia (India) Ltd (22), Alliance Air (7), Akasa Air (6), Fly Big (5), BlueDart Aviation (2) and the grounded Go First (1).

AirAsia (India) has been rebranded as AIX Connect and is being merged with Air India Express while Go First stopped flying from May 2023.

"Technical snags in aircraft are normal industry phenomenon. Technical snags are mainly caused due to improper function/ malfunction of components/ accessories fitted on the aircraft.

"There are various factors affecting the reliability of the engine/ components/ accessories/ aircraft systems such as operational environment of the aircraft, build standards, frequency of operation etc," Singh said in the written reply.

Whenever technical snags occur, airlines are required to rectify the snag/ defects as per the guidance provided by the manufacturer before releasing the aircraft for operations.

In a separate written reply, Singh said there was a relative increase in airfares on certain routes in November and December last year.

"As per the analysis carried out by Tariff Monitoring Unit (TMU) established by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on the selected routes, there is relative increase in the airfares on certain routes in the months of November and December 2023 in comparison to the corresponding months in the year 2022," he said.

According to the minister, the main reasons were an increase in Air Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices, reduction in value of the rupee against the US dollar and suspension of operations by Go First which has resulted in demand-supply mismatch and consequently, a higher airfare.

He also noted that at present, airfares are neither established nor regulated by the government.

"With the repeal of Air Corporation Act in March 1994, the process of airfare approval by Government has been dispensed with," he added. PTI RAM SHW