SpiceJet is again under enhanced surveillance. What should the passengers do?

Passengers who have already booked tickets on SpiceJet should check with the airline on the status of their flight.

SpiceJet, struggling to meet ends, has again been placed under enhanced surveillance with immediate effect by the Indian regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). This comes amidst news of the airline facing issues at Dubai airport and within weeks of Mumbai airport putting out a social media advisory about SpiceJet operations, only to remove it later with the airline stating that the issues are being resolved.

This is not the first time that SpiceJet has been put under surveillance. In 2022, the airline had faced a similar fate. (Pic for representational purpose only/ REUTERS)

This is not the first time that SpiceJet has been put under surveillance. In 2022, the airline had faced a similar fate. Back then, the DGCA had restricted operations of SpiceJet in an environment where post COVID the government had allowed limited flights to operate and also had fare caps. The airline is now operating fewer flights than what it operated even under the capped regime. SpiceJet had approval for 1657 weekly domestic departures in summer schedule which began on the last Sunday of March and is in force until the last Saturday of October. In the month of July, SpiceJet operated an average of 703 weekly departures or just 42.45% of what was approved, shows data from the regulator.

What should the passengers do?

The regulator’s order does not have an impact on operations. However, the regulator could ground additional aircraft for checks or any discrepancies if it finds something of concern during its surprise checks across the SpiceJet network.

Those already booked on SpiceJet should check with the airline on the status of their flight and if you are planning to book a SpiceJet flight, double-check that it will operate. With Flight status page of the airline, metro airports flight status page and flight tracking websites like flightaware and flightradar24, it is relatively easier to track flights which are operating and if they are on time. This would help passengers from last minute hassles. The airlines average OTP for last week has been below 40% and it recorded the lowest OTP amongst all carriers in July when it had only 29.3% of its flights at four metro’s being on-time. The airline, though with a shrunk market share, carried 4.05 lakh domestic passengers with a load factor of 90.3%, highest amongst all carriers.

In the past we have seen things turning south very rapidly for an airline, from Kingfisher to Jet Airways this story has repeated often in Indian skies.

Data shared by Cirium - an aviation analytics company, exclusively for this article, shows that SpiceJet has 117 flights scheduled for Friday, 30th August. 104 of those are domestic, while 13 are international. Its once large international network is now left with only three stations - Jeddah, Bangkok and Dubai. It has eleven departures scheduled from Dubai, where it faced operational challenges today with social media indicating that flights were either cancelled or there have been cases of flights flying empty - none of which could be verified with the airline or airport. It has 16,931 seats on offer for 30th August, of which the largest are from Delhi (4102), while Dubai comes in next (1962 seats). Mumbai is third with 1423 seats on offer. Delhi has 25 departures, while Dubai has 11 and Mumbai 9. Its network comprises 32 airports for the schedule of 30th August.

What next?

The news of being under surveillance is never good news. The airline will have to convince the flying public really fast that they run a safe ship. With unpaid dues to employees making news and protests in the past, the chances of these impacting operations remain higher than the regulator’s checks - as they would be mindful of the schedule. The unpaid dues in the time of festivities add to the troubles for employees at the airline, where mandatory and statutory dues have not been paid either, a story which has repeated across airlines in the past. The airline is in dire and urgent need for funds and if funds are not infused could be on the brink of collapse.

Tail Note

A shrunken airline which is already battling a financial crisis is a bad combination, since it cannot attract enough passengers to fill up its coffers and repay the debt and operating expenditure. DGCA’s website shows the airline has 55 aircraft, while flight tracking websites shows less than 24 being operational over the last few days with the drop below 20 on certain days.

With 55 planes on its air operating permit, the airline does not risk losing international rights but if it does not pay the airports - it does risk being pushed to either operate lower flights or worse, be barred from operations. How does it come out of this mess, would either become a case study or it could follow the path others did from here on, which won't be good for aviation in India. As a passenger, the best thing one can do is be cautious.