Alaska Airlines fallout: DGCA asks Indian carriers to immediately conduct one-time checks on emergency exits of their B737 MAX

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has directed Air India Express, Akasa Air and SpiceJet to "carry out a one time inspection of the emergency exits immediately on all Boeing 737-8 Max aircraft currently operating as part of their fleet." The regulator issued this directive as an "abundant precautionary measure" following an Alaska Airlines B737-9 Max saw a mid cabin emergency exit assembly and portion of the plane’s fuselage blow out shortly after take off in the US. No Indian carrier operates the B737-9 variant of the Max yet and they have the B737-8 Max in their fleets.