In 2025, the total net induction was 35 planes -- 79 added and 44 returned -- making it much lower than even 2024.
The DGCA has asked airlines to inspect the fuel switch locking system in their Boeing 787 and 737 planes after a preliminary probe report into the Air India crash found that the switches were cut off before the accident.
'In the inspections, no issues were found with the said locking mechanism.'
The move follows the recent probe report by the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that highlighted safety concerns involving Boeing 737 aircraft equipped with Collins Aerospace SVO-730 Rudder Rollout Guidance Actuators.
IndiGo, which operates the largest fleet among Indian carriers, has reported the highest number of serious engine-related incidents.
'For the moment, we have barred these pilots from flying the Max and they have to retrain successfully for flying the aircraft,' DGCA chief Arun Kumar said in a statement.
SpiceJet had bet its fortunes heavily on the new version of the 737 of which it has 13 planes in its fleet and another 193 aircraft on order
It takes only two hours - roughly the time it takes for a plane to fly from Delhi to Mumbai - for a pair of pilots to complete their training on the 737 MAX simulator at Boeing's centre in Noida, the only one of its kind in India. Going by this estimate, all the 90 Spicejet pilots who the civil aviation regulator barred from flying the 737 MAX can be retrained in 90 hours.
Akasa Air's standalone net loss rose 18.7 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to roughly Rs 1,983 crore in 2024-25 (FY25), driven by rising employee costs, aircraft maintenance and airport charges, and a sharp increase in foreign exchange (forex) expenses, sources privy to the development told Business Standard.
On Friday, the Alaska Airlines plane's outer section, including a window, fell off mid-air.
SpiceJet had last year announced a $4.4-bn deal for 42 Boeing 737 Max.
Though a formal purchase agreement with Boeing is yet to be signed, SpiceJet's order size could be of 40-50 planes, a source familiar with the development said. At list price, a 737 Max aircraft is valued at about $100 million (Rs 620 crore).
Sources said SpiceJet's deal with Boeing is worth around $1.4 billion as per the list price. When contacted, company officials, however, declined to comment on the valuation of the deal.
A native of Mandangad in coastal Ratnagiri district, the Songhare family had moved to Mumbai for work and shifted to Dombivli two years ago.
Boeing 737 MAX planes were globally grounded in March 2019, after two of these crashed within five months, raising safety concerns.
Hundreds of people, including inconsolable family members and friends, gave an emotional farewell to First Officer Clive Kunder, co-pilot of the Air India plane that crashed in Ahmedabad last week, and flight attendant Roshni Songhare whose last rites were held on Thursday.
Delhi-based budget carrier SpiceJet will acquire 10 new Boeing 737 airplanes as a part of its fleet expansion programme.
Indian budget airline SpiceJet has agreed to buy around 40 Boeing 737 passenger jets worth over $4 billion at list prices as it seeks to modernize its fleet and climb out of the red, industry sources said on Tuesday.
The court order could put SpiceJet's revival plan under stress.
Low cost airline SpiceJet, on Saturday said it has placed orders for 10 more Boeing 737-800 aircraft with Boeing, and the first one would join the existing fleet of five aircraft, by February 2006.
US aircraft maker Boeing Corp on Wednesday signed an agreement to sell ten 737-800 passenger jets, with an option to sell 10 more, to SpiceJet low-cost carrier in a deal worth $1.26 billion at list prices.\n\n
SpiceJet apologised for the inconvenience caused to the passenger and will also provide a full refund. As the passenger kept waiting in the lavatory, a cabin crew slipped in a note asking the passenger not to panic and that despite trying their best, the door could not be opened.
Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh inaugurated the 5-day long event.
Aviation watchdog DGCA has taken off SpiceJet from its enhanced surveillance regime, a senior official said on Tuesday. The airline, which has been facing multiple headwinds, was placed under enhanced surveillance recently. The senior DGCA official said that in view of the observations made in the past concerning inadequate maintenance and in view of the incidents during the monsoon season last year, SpiceJet was placed under enhanced surveillance.
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday flew on SpiceJet's special flight between Delhi and Gwalior using Boeing's 737 Max plane that has been allowed to return to service after two and half years. All Max planes were grounded in India by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on March 13, 2019, three days after the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max plane near Addis Ababa, which had left 157 people, including four Indians, dead. Along with Scindia, SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh and Boeing India president Salil Gupte were also present on the special flight on Tuesday.
Indian aviation regulator DGCA has barred 90 SpiceJet pilots from operating the Boeing 737 Max aircraft after finding them not properly trained. "For the moment, we have barred these pilots from flying the Max and they have to retrain successfully for flying the aircraft," DGCA chief Arun Kumar said in a statement. He also said that the regulator will take "strict action against those found responsible for the lapse."
The airline has said it isn't worried about competition in the domestic market, thanks to its spread across three passenger segments
With the earlier order for 55 planes and additional 100 new 737-8 MAX aircraft, the no-frills carrier now has firmed up the order for a total of 155 planes, besides purchase rights for 50 B737-8 MAX and wide body aircraft.
On Monday, the Boeing B737 Max aircraft with registration number VT-SZK operated the Mangaluru-Dubai flight, DGCA officials noted. After the aircraft landed, an engineer did a walk around inspection and found the nose wheel strut was compressed more than usual, they said.
SpiceJet is in talks with aircraft makers for a jet deal.
SpiceJet will induct more Boeing 737 Max aircraft over the next few months and it hopes to start broadband internet service on its planes soon, its chairman and managing director (CMD) Ajay Singh said on Monday. The airline has a fleet of 91 aircraft, out of which 13 are Max planes and 46 are older versions of Boeing 737 aircraft, according to its website. In his email to employees on the 17th anniversary of the airline, Singh said the carrier continues to fly with the highest loads month after month and expects to soar even higher in the coming months.
India's aviation regulator DGCA on Thursday lifted the ban on Boeing 737 Max planes' commercial flight operations after almost two-and-half years. On March 13, 2019, all Boeing 737 Max planes were grounded in India by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) after the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max plane on March 10 near Addis Ababa which had left 157 people, including four Indians, dead. Aircraft manufacturer Boeing has been modifying the 737 Max plane since March 2019 so that various countries' regulators, including the DGCA, permit its passenger flight operations again.
An alternate aircraft of Indian budget carrier SpiceJet flew to Dubai from Karachi's Jinnah International Airport on Tuesday night, ending a wait of nearly 11 hours for 138 passengers who got stranded there after taking off from New Delhi in the morning.
Three Indian carriers -- SpiceJet, Vistara and Air India Express -- have Boeing 737 aircraft in their fleets.
SpiceJet is looking for investments from external parties, including airlines, and also plans to add seven more Boeing planes to its fleet, the carrier's chief Ajay Singh said on Tuesday. In recent times, SpiceJet has faced turbulence -- especially with many of its flights suffering technical snags -- and subsequently, the airline has faced actions from aviation regulator DGCA. SpiceJet chairman and managing director Ajay Singh said it is doing the utmost to work through the stress that it has faced and the strategy is to raise resources.
SpiceJet is conducting a strategic review of fleet and network, which could see staff reductions and a possible phase out of Bombardier Q400 planes in three months.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed new airline Akasa is in talks with US aerospace company Boeing for buying up to 100 737 Max aircraft. Former Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube and his family members are promoters while ex-IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh is a board member of the airline. The airline is in negotiation with Boeing and has reached out to the government to recertify the aircraft which has been grounded since 2018 after two crashes killing 349 persons, according to sources in the know.
The two episodes on a single day have taken the total number of technical malfunction incidents involving SpiceJet aircraft to seven in the last 17 days.
SpiceJet said its freighter aircraft, which was heading to Chongqing in China, returned to Kolkata on Tuesday as the pilots realised after take off that its weather radar was not working.
A SpiceJet plane was damaged on Monday when its wing hit a lightning pole at the Delhi airport when the aircraft was pushed back from the parking position to be ready for takeoff to Jammu, DGCA officials said.
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