The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday said that checks and inspection of the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft by Indian operators have been satisfactorily performed on the fleet, with no adverse findings.
The development comes after Alaska Airlines grounded all of its Boeing 737-9 aircraft after one such plane had to make an emergency landing last week in Portland, Oregon, with a window and a part of the fuselage missing.
On January 6, the DGCA directed Indian air operators to carry out an immediate one-time inspection of the emergency exits on all Boeing 737-8 Max aircraft currently operating as part of their fleet.
“As a precautionary measure, DGCA on January 6 directed all Indian operators with Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft to check the operation and proper closing of all over wing emergency exits by January 7,” said Director General of the aviation watchdog, Vikram Dev Dutt.
“These checks have been satisfactorily performed on the operational fleet of Boeing B737-8 Max aircraft by Air India Express (four), SpiceJet (eight) and Akasa (20). Akasa Air fleet includes one B737-8200 aircraft which has a mid-cabin door on which the operational check has also been completed satisfactorily,” he added.
A SpiceJet spokesman said: “We have conducted a comprehensive examination of our Boeing 737 MAX fleet, as per the directives of the DGCA. No adverse findings were identified during this inspection. Our flight operations remained unaffected and continued to operate as usual.
“It is important to note that SpiceJet does not operate the B737-9 variant of the MAX.”
Akasa Air said that following the Alaska Airlines incident and the subsequent guideline issued by the DGCA, it has completed a thorough inspection of its entire fleet of in-service Boeing 737 Max aircraft.
“We can confirm that there are no adverse findings. We can also confirm that there was no disruption to our operations during this time. Akasa Air does not have any Boeing 737 Max-9 aircraft in its fleet, the aircraft on which the incident occurred,” said an airline spokesperson.
