Airlines encountered a total of 478 technical snags related to their aircraft over the past year, according to official data submitted to the Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh on Thursday (February 8).
Singh noted that technical snags are a common occurrence in the aviation industry, typically resulting from the improper function or malfunction of components or accessories fitted on aircraft.
IndiGo most affected by tech snags
The data, covering the period from January 2023 to January 2024, highlighted IndiGo as the most affected, with 246 reported glitches. Air India faced 63 technical snags, Vistara encountered 79, SpiceJet experienced 47, AirAsia (India) Ltd encountered 22, Alliance Air reported 7, Akasa Air faced 6, Fly Big had 5, BlueDart Aviation faced 2, and the grounded Go First reported 1.
“There are various factors affecting the reliability of the engine/ components/ accessories/ aircraft systems such as operational environment of the aircraft, build standards, frequency of operation etc,” V K Singh said in the written reply.
Increase in airfares on certain routes
Additionally, Singh addressed the relative increase in airfares on certain routes during November and December of the previous year. According to analysis conducted by the Tariff Monitoring Unit (TMU) established by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), airfares on select routes saw a relative increase during these months compared to the corresponding period in 2022.
Singh attributed this increase to factors such as rising Air Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices, a reduction in the value of the rupee against the US dollar, and the suspension of operations by Go First, which led to a demand-supply mismatch and subsequently higher airfares.
Singh clarified that airfares are currently neither established nor regulated by the government, with the repeal of the Air Corporation Act in March 1994 resulting in the discontinuation of the process of airfare approval by the government.