SpiceJet rejects ex-pilot’s claims, defends safety record

Former staffer flags air safety risk from ‘stressed crew’ to PM

SpiceJet on Friday asserted that the airline had a strong “safety culture and an impeccable safety record” and termed a former pilot’s charges that the airline was endangering flights by operating them with ‘financially stressed crew’ as “an outright lie”. “A financially stressed set of crew are a flight safety threat and since they are not in the right state of mind a crash can happen anytime,” former SpiceJet pilot Vinodh Loganathan wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a copy of which has been seen by The Hindu. “The current employees cannot come out in the open as SpiceJet has threatened them with termination as they had threatened me,” he alleged, charging the airline of non-payment of employees’ wages as well as statutory dues. Terming the allegations “an attempt to malign the company” that would be met with the strongest legal action, a spokesman for the airline said, “SpiceJet... continues to maintain the highest standards of safety in operations with no compromise on quality.”