SpiceJet and Jet Airways have till noon on Tuesday to carry out the changes mandated by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on their Boeing 737 MAX 800 aircraft.
Under the DGCA’s new norms, the minimum experience level of the pilot in command operating the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft is 1,000 hours. In addition, a co-pilot has to have a minimum experience of 500 hours of flying a Boeing 737 New Generation aircraft.
The DGCA said it has informed the US Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing for suggesting any additional measures/advice.
These steps taken on Monday evening are interim safety measures taken in inputs available at this stage/ DGCA will continue to closely monitor the situation and impose/take any other operational/maintenance measures/restrictions based on the information received from Accident Investigation Agency/FAA.Boeing.
This comes in the wake of the crash of the Boeing 737 MAX 800 of Ethiopian Airlines while on a flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi.
Four Indians were among the 157 who died in the crash happened six minutes into the flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi. “DGCA shall issue additional safety instructions tonight or tomorrow morning in this regard for Indian operators,” the airline watch dog said.
At the moment, SpiceJet and Jet Airways are the only two Indian carriers that have this version of the aircraft in their fleet. The SpiceJet website shows that the airline has 13 Boeing 737 800 MAX aircraft which can seat a maximum on 189 passengers and can fly a maximum of 6,500 km. Jet Airways has five Boeing 737 MAX 800 aircraft, which are currently grounded.
SpiceJet has ordered 205 Boeing MAX aircraft while Jet Airways has ordered over 200.
Following the crash, Ethiopian has decided to ground its entire fleet of Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. The airline did not say for how long the aircraft will remain grounded. China and Indonesia have grounded their fleets of aircraft on Monday
Apart from Ethiopian Airlines, the other airlines that have grounded the aircraft include Air China, China Eastern, Kunming Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines among others, according to BBC.
Cayman Airways, the national flag carrier of Cayman Islands, has also grounded the aircraft. “While the cause of this sad loss is undetermined at this time, we stand by our commitment to putting the safety of our passengers and crew first by maintaining complete and undoubtable safe operations, and as such, we have taken the decision to suspend operations of both our new Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft, effective from March 11, until more information is received,” said Cayman Airways President and CEO, Fabian Whorms, the airline website shows.