SpiceJet’s Successful ICAO Audit Boosts India’s Global Safety Rankings

SpiceJet, the budget airline, has once again found itself in the middle of a safety audit, but this time for all the right reasons. The audit of the airline by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a specialised agency of the United Nations, resulted in a significant increase in India’s aviation safety ranking.

With SpiceJet’s successful ICAO audit, India has entered the top 50 for the first time ever after moving up 48 places in terms of aviation safety from 102nd place four years ago. India has recently overtaken nations like China (49), Israel (50), and Turkey (54).

“ICAO giving India’s aviation safety highest ever ranking is a matter of pride for all of us. We are proud that SpiceJet was the only scheduled Indian airline to undergo validation checks by ICAO in this audit. We are truly humbled at playing a role in India making it to the top,” said SpiceJet in a Tweet.

“The ICAO audit is the benchmark of safety. We are proud that our safety culture, systems, processes and operations have been found to be at par with the global best practices and safety standards,” said Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, of SpiceJet.

“SpiceJet is truly humbled at playing a role in India achieving the highest ever safety ranking and making it to the top 50 nations in terms of ICAO aviation safety audit scores,” he added.

The ICAO Auditing Committee visited SpiceJet headquarters, where all flights are controlled, and the airline’s flight dispatch offices at Delhi Airport on November 14, 2022.

They audited and reviewed a variety of flight critical functions and operational areas, including flight planning, weather assessment, route planning, aircraft serviceability, operations to critical airports, pilot rostering systems, cabin safety procedures, and so on.

Notably, SpiceJet was the only scheduled Indian airline to undergo validation checks by ICAO in this audit.

Many in the industry credit Chairman Ajay Singh for taking some bold steps to improve safety which have finally paid dividends with ICAO acknowledging that the airline’s operations and safety were strong and at par with the global best practices and safety standards processes.

“I am happy that our hard work has been acknowledged. We have made sure that we take nothing for granted when it comes to safety and this audit is a testament to the highest standard of safety followed by SpiceJet,” he said.