India’s domestic airlines have reported 427 incidents of technical faults in their aircraft from January to July 19 this year, according to data released by the government, reported PTI. This figure comes from a written reply by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol to the Rajya Sabha.
Breakdown of Technical Faults and Cancellations
The eight scheduled passenger airlines included in the data saw a total of 268 flight cancellations due to technical issues within the same period. IndiGo recorded 46 incidents, while Alliance Air had 51. SpiceJet and Vistara reported 23 and 44 incidents, respectively. Air India’s fleet was divided into two categories: Fleet A, comprising Airbus planes, encountered 152 incidents, and Fleet B, consisting of Boeing aircraft, faced 101 incidents. Fly Big and Akasa Air had fewer occurrences, with 6 and 4 incidents respectively.
The cumulative total of 427 incidents for this year till mid-July shows a slight decrease compared to previous years. In 2023, there were 453 reported incidents, down from 529 in 2022. Historical data indicates fluctuations in these figures, with 515 incidents in 2021, 421 in 2020, and a peak of 640 in 2019.
Flight cancellations due to technical faults were also noteworthy. IndiGo canceled 49 flights, Alliance Air 45, SpiceJet 22, and Fly Big 27. Air India’s Fleet A had 88 cancellations, while Fleet B had 37. Notably, Vistara and Akasa Air managed to avoid any cancellations due to technical issues during this period. BlueDart Aviation, a cargo airline, reported one incident and one flight cancellation due to technical reasons.
With inputs from PTI.