Lok Sabha Question No. 2914 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-12
Subject: Technical Faults in Flights
Ministry: CIVIL AVIATION
Asked by: Shri Imran Masood

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF CIVIL AVIATION

## Lok Sabha

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. : 2914

( TO BE ANSWERED ON THE  12th December 2024 )

## TECHNICAL FAULTS IN FLIGHTS

2914.    SHRI IMRAN MASOOD

Will the Minister of CIVIL AVIATION

be pleased to state:-

- (a) whether the Government has noticed an increase in the cases of technical faults in flights and if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  the  measures/steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  reduce  such technical  faults,  frequent  delays  and  cancellation  of  flights  in  the country; and
- (c) the justification with the Government for high prices of airfares?

## ANSWER

Minister of State in the Ministry of CIVIL  AVIATION (Shri Murlidhar Mohol)

- (a) During aircraft operations, technical snags may be experienced. These may be due to improper functioning/malfunction of components/ system/ accessories fitted on the aircraft. The details of number of instances that the Indian flights have faced technical faults during last 5 years are given at Annexure.

;

- (b) DGCA has laid down regulations under Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) which requires that the aircraft is maintained in accordance  with  the  manufacturer  and  DGCA  guidelines  and  all technical  issues  reported  on  the  aircraft  are  rectified  before  the aircraft is released for flight. ;

;

Further,  CAR  145  lays  down  the  requirements  for  the  approval  of maintenance organization which mandates the organization to have required manpower, equipment and literature commensurate to the type  and  fleet  to  be  maintained.  Under  the  system,  airlines  are required to ensure that the aircraft are maintained in a continuous state of airworthiness and all technical issues are rectified.; ; DGCA has a laid down mechanism of conducting surveillance, spot checks,  night  surveillance  etc.  of  the  airlines/  organizations  and personnel to ensure all regulatory requirements are complied with to  ensure  safety  of  passenger  and  aircraft  and  the  observations/ findings are provided to the airline for taking corrective action.; ; The action taken to correct the observation are reviewed to enforce corrective and preventive action. In case of violations, DGCA takes enforcement action in accordance with laid down procedures which may consist of warning, suspension, cancellation including imposition of financial penalty to the personnel involved/ airline. ; (c) The airfares have moderated in 2024, relative to 2023. Airfares are not subject to regulation by the Government and airlines have the flexibility to determine their airfares based on their operational needs, while adhering to Rule 135 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937. While the government  generally refrains from regulating airfares to maintain market competitiveness, however, it remains vigilant, and the  Government  intervenes  to  shift  capacity  from  one  sector  to another to prevent exorbitant pricing to ensure passenger comfort and welfare.; ; The airlines have also been sensitized to ensure reasonability while fixing the airfares and to keep passengers' interest in mind. Notably, during  festival  seasons,  a  decrease  in  airfares  was  observed  in various sectors.; ; The airlines are mandated to display the Tariff Sheet at a prominent location on the home page of airlines' website. ; Directorate  General  of  Civil  Aviation  (DGCA)  has  setup  a  Tariff Monitoring  Unit  (TMU)  that  monitors  airfares  on  select  domestic

sectors  on  random  basis  by  using  airlines'  websites  on  monthly basis to ensure that the airlines do not charge airfares outside the range declared by them.

- ******

## Annexure

| S/N                                          | AIRLINES                        | 2020                    | 2021                    | 2022                    | 2023                     | 2024 (till 27.11.2024)   |
|----------------------------------------------|---------------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
| S/N                                          | AIRLINES                        | No. of technical faults | No. of technical faults | No. of technical faults | No. of technica l faults | No. of technical faults  |
| M/s Alliance Air Aviation Ltd (Alliance Air) | 1                               | 4                       | 3                       | 6                       | 5                        | 1                        |
| M/s Interglobe Aviation Ltd (Indigo)         | 297                             | 286                     | 472                     | 115                     | 118                      | 2                        |
| M/s Spicejet Ltd                             | 147                             | 170                     | 143                     | 150                     | 23                       | 3                        |
| M/s Air India Ltd                            | 54                              | 71                      | 64                      | 62                      | 66                       | 4                        |
| M/s Vistara                                  | 11                              | 7                       | 3                       | 14                      | 8                        | 5                        |
| M/s AirIndia Express Ltd                     | -                               | -                       | 23                      | 23                      | 26                       | 6                        |
| M/s Air Asia Ltd                             | 11                              | 10                      | 8                       | 16                      | 18                       | 7                        |
| M/s Big Charter Pvt Ltd (Fly Big)            | -                               | 1                       | 5                       | 3                       | 3                        | 8                        |
| M/s Akasa Air                                | -                               | -                       | 1                       | -                       | 5                        | 9                        |
| M/s Blue Dart Aviation Ltd                   | 4                               | 1                       | 1                       | 1                       | 1                        | 10                       |
| Total technical faults                       | Total technical faults          | 525                     | 550                     | 723                     | 390                      | 273                      |
| Total Flights in the Year                    | Total Flights in the Year       | 549214                  | 733881                  | 997041                  | 1194777                  | 1069680                  |
| Percentage of faults per flight              | Percentage of faults per flight | 0.0955                  | 0.0749                  | 0.0725                  | 0.0326                   | 0.0255                   |