Airlines reported over 24,700 technical snags in 2017: Govt

Airlines reported over 24,700 technical snags last year, with Jet Airways alone accounting for 9,689 of them, according to official data. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha told the Rajya Sabha today said that technical snags in airlines have gone up from 15,048 in 2014 to 21,500 in 2016. A total of 24,791 "defects/ snags" were reported by airlines in 2017, according to the data provided by the minister as part of a written reply.

"Snags have increased due to increase in number of aircraft in the airline and increased number of flight sectors," he said. Out of last year's total, Jet Airways planes had 9,689 snags, followed by SpiceJet which reported 4,903 snags and Air India group at 4,563. GoAir reported 1,888 snags, AirAsia (1,367), Vistara (1,225), Blue Dart (793), IndiGo (340) and Zoom Air (23), the data showed. Jet Airways had reported 6,535 snags in Boeing 737, 990 in Boeing 777 (B777), 831 in Airbus 330 (A330) and 1,333 in ATR. In the case of SpiceJet, 2,910 snags were reported with respect to Boeing 737 and 1,993 related to Bombardier Q400.

As per the data, Air India reported 337 snags in A319, 482 in A320 and 354 in A321 planes. The number was 48 in the case of B747-400, 226 in B777 and 497 in B787. The national carrier's budget arm Air India reported 1,676 snags in B737 while Alliance Air's ATR-72-600 faced 943 snags last year. AirAsia, Vistara and IndiGo flies A320 planes while Blue Dart operates B737 aircraft. Zoom Air has CRJ 200 planes, the data showed. "Technical snag (defect) means a condition existing in an aircraft (including its systems) or aircraft component arising from any cause other than damage, which would preclude it or another aircraft component from performing their intended functions or would reduce the expected service life of the aircraft or the aircraft component," Sinha said.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has regulations and procedures for monitoring snags encountered during aircraft operations. These include analysing engineering statistical reports and advising the aircraft operators to take corrective actions if there is any adverse trend and conducting spot checks.

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