The Indian Civil Aviation Authority ordered the immediate grounding of a Spicejet Boeing 737 following a tweet from a passenger who complained about the condition of the cabin. The procedure is probably unique in the world.

A traveler flew from Bengaluru to Guwahati on Spicejet on April 19, 2022. The state of the cabin infuriated him. He posted that it is downright run down, important parts are broken or missing completely. He took photos with his smartphone and also tagged the Indian civil aviation authority DGCA in the Twitter post. They reacted promptly and ordered the affected medium-haul jet to be temporarily grounded. The office confirmed the incident.

But it didn't work without a "second chance" for Spicjet. The passenger posted the post shortly after the outbound flight had landed, giving the authorities time to prepare. At Bengaluru Airport, DGCA inspectors surprised the crew after the return flight had landed. They took a close look at the Boeing 737 and found it unairworthy. An immediate grounding was ordered. This applies until Spicejet has remedied all the defects found and the inspectors of the civil aviation authority have found them to be in order in the course of a new inspection.

Spicejet was then able to repair particularly quickly, because just one day later the inspectors were invited to accept the work. The company explained, among other things: “On the instructions of the DGCA, work was carried out on the cabin of a SpiceJet Boeing 737 that landed in Bengaluru on April 19 at around 15:40. The aircraft resumed flight operations on the morning of April 20 after approval by the DGCA.”