The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued an order on June 19 to initiate a focused assessment of the aviation ecosystem to strengthen safety measures across the aviation sector. Two teams led by the Joint Director General, DGCA, carried out comprehensive surveillance during the night and early morning hours at major airports, including Delhi and Mumbai, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement.

The surveillance covered multiple critical areas such as flight operations, airworthiness, ramp safety, air traffic control (ATC), communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) systems, and pre-flight medical evaluations. Throughout the surveillance, ground activities and aircraft movements were closely monitored to check compliance with regulatory requirements and to identify weak areas for improvement, according to the ministry.

Multiple cases wherein the reported defects reappeared many times on the aircraft, indicating the ineffective monitoring and inadequate rectification action on the defects/repeated defects; Ground handling equipment such as baggage trollies, BFL, etc were found unserviceable; Line maintenance stores, tool control procedures were not followed.