DGCA asks for key details from SpiceJet on its exact status

NEW DELHI: Aviation authorities have finally woken up to the plight of scores of passengers, who are supposed to fly SpiceJet but are informed at the last minute that their flights have been cancelled.

The directorate general of civil aviation ( DGCA) asked the airline on Monday to come clean on its exact status — in terms of how many Boeing 737 is it actually flying, number of pilots on its rolls and how many have quit; its financial position and finally the actual number of flights it is operating these days.

"They have to submit these details by Tuesday morning to the DGCA after which we will decide what course of action to adopt for the airline. While we do not want to act as a catalyst for any airline's collapse, we also can't let passengers suffer," said a senior officer.

The DGCA sought the information from embattled SpiceJet after it failed to restore some of the cancelled flights by November-end as the management had promised. The airline claimed to be flying 22 Boeing 737s because of which it said "about 50" daily flights were cancelled.

The problem is that the airline informs passengers at last minute about their flight being cancelled, leaving them to buy skyhigh spot fares to reach their destination. Also, flyers say their flight timings were changed repeatedly, leaving them in a spot.