International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) junked SpiceJet's claim of being audited by the UN Body, stating that the purpose of visit was not audits or inspections. ICAO said the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) team performed an ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM) from November 9 to 16 this year to validate progress in addressing the findings from previous USOAP activities.
As part of an ICVM, it is an usual practice for ICAO teams to conduct industry visits to verify the effectiveness of the civil aviation authority’s safety oversight.
Earlier on December 5, SpiceJet released a statement saying, “SpiceJet was the only scheduled Indian airline part of the audit conducted by ICAO under the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) Continuous Monitoring Approach. The audit of SpiceJet safety systems helped India achieve its highest ever safety ranking in ICAO audit."
As per the provided information earlier, the ICAO Auditing Committee visited the SpiceJet head office at the Delhi airport on November 14. The airline said that the UN audited and reviewed various flight critical functions and operational areas such as flight planning, weather assessment, route planning, aircraft serviceability among others.
Chairman and Managing Director of SpiceJet, Ajay Singh said that following the ICAO audit, its safety culture and operations were found to be in order.
SpiceJet has been running 17 years and claims to have flown with the highest passenger load factor in Indian skies for a record seven years. It adds that starting in April 2015, SpiceJet has recorded the highest occupancy in the country. As per SpiceJet, it holds the distinction of having flown with a passenger load factor (PLF) of more than 90 percent for a record 58 consecutive months.
DGCA sources said to CNBC-TV18.com that auditing an airline is a state regulator job. The regulator has declined to make any comment on this issue.
First Published: Dec 14, 2022 10:50 AM IST
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