Following the disaster of a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 with 132 passengers on board on Monday, the DGCA has placed Indian carriers’ Boeing 737 fleets under “increased surveillance,” according to its chief Arun Kumar.
SpiceJet, Vistara, and Air India Express are three Indian airlines that have Boeing 737 aircraft in their fleets.
Kumar told that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is taking “a number of initiatives” in the aftermath of Monday’s tragedy “Flight safety is a top priority for us, and we’re keeping a close eye on the issue. In the meanwhile, we’re concentrating on improving the surveillance of our 737 fleet.”
A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 aeroplane was flying from Kunming to Guangzhou when it crashed in Tengxian County, Wuzhou.
- Following the tragedy on Monday, China Eastern Airlines, one of China’s three major airlines, has grounded all of its Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
- According to state media, there were no foreigners among the 132 individuals on board the Chinese passenger airliner that crashed, which included 123 passengers and nine crew members.
- The Boeing 737 Max is a more advanced variant of the Boeing 737-800, and both aircraft are part of the 737 series.
In the six months between October 2018 and March 2019, two Boeing 737 Max aeroplanes were involved in accidents, killing a total of 346 passengers.
The DGCA banned Boeing 737 Max planes in India in March 2019 as a result of these two accidents.
In August of last year, the restriction on the aircraft’s commercial operations was removed after Boeing completed necessary software corrections to the satisfaction of the DGCA.
The jet crash has saddened Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States said it “is aware of allegations that a Boeing 737-800 airliner operated by China Eastern Airlines crashed in China this morning. If asked, the agency is willing to help with the probe.”
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