DGCA Start Safety Audit of IndiGo and Vistara

As a part of its ongoing exercise to review and assess safety mechanisms across all domestic airlines, the aviation watchdog DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) has started a special safety audit of IndiGo and Vistara.

The DGCA started this special audits in the wake of the recent Air India Express plane crash, a top official has said.

The special safety audit of IndiGo and Vistara, which began from Tuesday, is going to be conducted across their bases, said the official.

According to the officials, the DGCA has already completed the same exercise on Ajay Singh-owned no-frills carrier SpiceJet and state-run Air India.

“We are now conducting the special safety audit of IndiGo and Vistara from Tuesday after completing it on Air India and SpiceJet,” a DGCA official told PTI.

A Vistara spokesperson confirmed the developments without elaborating.

However, both IndiGo chief operating officer Wolfgang Prock-Schaeur and its head of Corporate Communication C Leekha didn’t answer a PTI query on this issue despite several reminders.

Days after an Air India Express aircraft accident in early August, the DGCA had announced an entire FOQA (Flight Operations Quality Assurance) audit of all domestic carriers.

The accident happened as a Boeing 737 with 190 people on board overshot the runway and crashed at the Kozhikode airport amid heavy rains, killing 18 people including the pilots.

The FOQA is the process of obtaining and analyzing all types of data from flights to enhance the security and efficiency of future flight operations.

The DGCA started the audit exercise in a very phased manner from August 20.

“The safety audit of IndiGo and Vistara will continue for 2-3 days and can be conducted across all their bases,” the official said.

The DGCA official also said the security issues found during audits of SpiceJet and Air India are communicated to them and they are directed to fix those issues.

He, however, refused to divulge further details on the result of the audit.

(With Inputs From PTI)

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