Budget airline SpiceJet could face legal action after Indian aviation authorities asked the airline to explain why it had reported more than six aviation safety incidents in the past two months.
The airline reported two separate incidents yesterday, with a plane bound for Dubai making an emergency landing in Pakistan after cockpit lights failed.
On the same day, another plane was forced to make a priority landing in Mumbai after a crack appeared in its outer windshield.
Another flight made an emergency landing in New Delhi a week ago when the cabin of a SpiceJet plane filled with smoke shortly after takeoff.
The airline said passengers had safely disembarked after all three incidents.
But a notice issued by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) yesterday said SpiceJet, which has a nearly 10% domestic market share in India, "has failed to establish a safe, efficient and reliable" service.
The notice gave the airline three weeks to say why it should not face legal action, which could include fines or grounding of planes under Indian rules.
SpiceJet also failed to pay suppliers and suppliers on time, which led to a shortage of spare parts for the airline, the regulator said.
"SpiceJet has been notified by the DGCA and will respond within the specified time," a company spokesman told AFP today.
"All of our aircraft were audited by regulators a month ago and found to be safe," he added.
SpiceJet has reported at least eight operational incidents since May.
Hundreds of passengers were stranded on planes for hours that month after an "attempted ransomware attack" forced flight delays and cancellations.
A flight to New Delhi made an emergency landing in the Indian city of Patna in June after a bird hit the engine and caught fire.
In another incident, turbulence on a flight from Mumbai injured 17 people and three passengers were treated in hospital.
SpiceJet operates a fleet of about 80 narrow-body aircraft, more than half of which are Boeing 737 variants.
Shares in the airline closed up 2% in Mumbai today despite news of the regulator's cause-of-cause notice.
