SpiceJet on Thursday said its 737 Max plane, which was heading from Mumbai to Kolkata, returned to Maharashtra’s capital city due to a “technical issue”. “SpiceJet flight SG- 467 operating Mumbai-Kolkata returned back to Mumbai after take off due to a technical issue. The aircraft landed safely in Mumbai,” a SpiceJet spokesperson said. No further details such as the number of persons on board and how long the aircraft remained airborne before making a turn back to the city airport were provided by the spokesperson.
SpiceJet, the only operator of Max planes in the country, had signed a USD 22 billion deal with Boeing for 205 aircraft in 2017, and has 13 of these planes in its fleet at present. 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.
After Boeing made necessary software rectifications, the DGCA had on August 26 this year lifted the ban on Max planes’ commercial flight operations. SpiceJet resumed operating its Max planes for commercial flight operations last month.
The airline operates a fleet of Boeing 737s, Bombardier Q-400s & freighters and is the country’s largest regional player operating 63 daily flights under UDAN or the Regional Connectivity Scheme. The airline also operates a dedicated air cargo service under the brand name SpiceXpress offering connectivity across India and on international routes.
