NEW DELHI: As the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) announced grounding of all Boeing 737 MAX in India today, SpiceJet said that they have cancelled 14 flights and will be operating additional flights from tomorrow.

“SpiceJet has presently announced cancellation of 14 flights for today and will be operating additional flights from tomorrow. Of the 76 planes in our fleet, 64 aircraft are in operations and we are confident of minimizing the inconvenience to our passengers and attain normalcy in our operations,” SpiceJet said in a statement.

The airline said that a majority of passengers affected as a result of these cancellations have been accommodated on alternate flights and the rest have been offered a full-refund.

Late night on Tuesday, India banned operations of Boeing 737 MAX plane after this week’s crash of this aircraft type in the African skies, increasing the likelihood of a further surge in domestic fares that remain high due to unrelated flight cancellations by some carriers.

The ban came a day after the DGCA had allowed the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to fly under stricter conditions. The ban would impact SpiceJet the most. SpiceJet and troubled Jet Airways are the only two airlines operating the Boeing 737 MAX in the country.

Grounding of 12 such aircraft operated by the local carriers could disrupt the operations and increase domestic fares that are already high due to flight cancellations by Jet Airways and IndiGo. Five aircraft of Jet Airways were grounded due to non-payment of dues to lessors.

While the DGCA has grounded flights, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has not grounded these aircraft and says it is reviewing data before it takes a decision.

“Thus far, our review shows no systematic performance issues and provides no basis to order grounding the aircraft. Nor have other civil aviation authorities provided data to us that would warrant action. In the course of our urgent review of data on the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash, if any issues affecting the continued airworthiness of the aircraft are identified, the FAA Will take immediate and appropriate action,” the US’ aviation regulator has said in a statement.