A SpiceJet flight was pressured to return to Delhi shortly after departure attributable to a difficulty with the plane’s autopilot. The incident befell on Thursday morning on one of many airline’s Boeing 737-700 plane.
SpiceJet flight SG8363 departed Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Worldwide Airport (DEL) at 06:54, sure for Nashik Worldwide Airport (ISK), situated 106 miles to the northeast of Mumbai, within the state of Maharashtra. There have been 89 passengers onboard.
Nevertheless, the flight didn’t make it increased than 7,000 ft in altitude earlier than the issue was recognized. Round half-hour after departure, the plane, VT-SLP, landed safely again in Delhi, and passengers had been moved onto one of many airline’s Sprint 8-Q400 plane for his or her flight to Nashik.
Easy Flying has reached out to SpiceJet for remark. India’s Directorate Basic of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in the meantime confirmed the incident, stating,
“SpiceJet B737 plane VT-SLP, working flight SG-8363 (Delhi-Nashik) on Thursday was concerned in an air turnback attributable to an autopilot snag.”
SG8363’s flight path may be clearly seen on FlightRadar24.com:
FlightRadar24.com
The Boeing 737-700 returned to the skies later the identical day, working a flight to Darbhanga (DBR). In keeping with the low-cost provider enterprise mannequin, SpiceJet’s plane have a excessive utilization, and within the two days previous to Thursday’s incident, VT-SLP had operated 12 flights to a wide range of home locations, together with Kolkata (CCU), Gorakhpur (GOP), and Belgaum (IXG).
SpiceJet and the Boeing 737
VT-SLP is one in every of 5 Boeing 737-700s in SpiceJet’s fleet. In response to ch-aviation.com, the plane was delivered new to Germania in March 2009, making it 13.5 years outdated. It later went on to fly for TUI fly earlier than being leased by SpiceJet in Might 2018. The plane seats 149 passengers in an all-economy configuration.
SpiceJet has 54 additional Boeing 737s in its fleet – a mixture of -800s, -900s, and MAX 8s. The airline presently has a staggering 192 extra Boeing 737 MAX 8s on order. SpiceJet additionally operates 32 Sprint 8-Q400 plane, with a capability of 78-90 passengers.
The brand new deliveries will make SpiceJet the most important operator of the Boeing 737 MAX in India. Its largest competitor, IndiGo, operates a fleet of Airbus A320s, Airbus A321s, and ATR 72-600s.
Ongoing troubles for SpiceJet
It has been a difficult few months for SpiceJet. The low-cost provider is going through important monetary troubles after reporting a internet lack of Rs 1,725 ($215 million) for the monetary 12 months. Rising gasoline costs and a depreciation of the Rupee are solely exacerbating the scenario. Elevated competitors from IndiGo and Vistara is just not serving to both.
Vistara is India’s third-largest home operator, after IndiGo and SpiceJet. Picture: Airbus.
Including to the airline’s woes, in July this 12 months, the DGCA positioned SpiceJet beneath an eight-week interval of enhanced surveillance, and ordered the provider to chop half of its deliberate flights. The transfer got here after numerous security considerations had been recognized by the DGCA. This newest incident will do little to instill confidence within the airline.
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