By Rohit Vaid

New Delhi, Apr 8 (IANS): India's civil aviation regulator has denied permission to a foreign air carrier to operate or overfly Boeing 737Max in the country.

According to the chief of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), no foreign air carrier can operate or overfly the aircraft in India till regulatory clearances is given to the Boeing 737Max.

Recently, DGCA denied permission to FlyDubai to operate Boeing 737Max in India.

"We will need some more time to gauge the performance of the aircraft and therefore the permission has been denied for the time being," said Arun Kumar, Director General of DGCA.

The regular is closely monitoring the performance of the aircraft in foreign jurisdictions. Till March 9, 14 airlines globally had returned 737Max into service after FAA and EASA approved the return of the aircraft. However, DGCA will conduct its own due diligence, Kumar said.

The Boeing 737Max aircraft was grounded worldwide in 2019 after two fatal crashes.

In India, SpiceJet is the only operator of Boeing 737Max, having 13 such aircraft in its fleet.