SpiceJet's Karachi Landing Its 6th Safety-Related Concern In Under 3 Weeks

The Indian aviation regulator has ordered a probe into today's incident where air carrier SpiceJet's Delhi-Dubai flight was diverted to Karachi following a fuel indicator malfunction. More than 150 passengers were on board the flight that made a precautionary landing in Karachi, Pakistan.

Aviation sources have told NDTV that this is the sixth safety-related concern in SpiceJet in less than three weeks. The other incidents, all of which have been brought to the attention of the regulator, include two-door warnings, a bird hit, oil leakage from an engine, and a pressurisation problem in addition to today's malfunction.

"We are concerned over passengers' safety and a team has been formed to investigate all the incidents thoroughly and submit the report at the earliest," a senior Directorate General Of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official said.

In the monthly report of DGCA, SpiceJet came in second in terms of flight cancellations in the month of May, news agency ANI reported.

The aviation regulator conducted a fleet-wide safety audit of the low-cost carrier just last month and continues to carry out inspections on a case-by-case basis.

The landing in Karachi comes just two days after the pilot of a SpiceJet Q400 airliner flying from Delhi to Jabalpur made a 'May Day' distress call and returned to Delhi after smoke was detected in the cabin.

Earlier, on June 19, a Delhi-bound SpiceJet aircraft, with 185 passengers on board, made an emergency landing in Patna right after take-off as its left engine caught fire following a bird hit.