‘Latest A320neo engine trouble technical guidance by August’: Pratt to DGCA as capacity uncertainty mounts

NEW DELHI: The prospect of the existing aircraft capacity crunch in Indian skies worsening and leading to even higher airfares looms large on Indian skies just ahead of the coming festive season.

The reason: yet another trouble with Pratt & Whitney’s (PW) snag-ridden geared turbofan (GTF) engines that power the Airbus A321neo and have almost 50 IndiGo aircraft grounded apart from the once 60-aircraft strong GoAir.
Directorate General of Civil Aviation chief Vikram Dev Dutt on Friday held a video conference with its American counterpart, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and PW on the latest in a series of GTF’s unending snags. Sources say PW told the Indian regulator it will issue technical guidance on the latest trouble in early August. The latest trouble relates to microscopic contaminants being found in a metal used in part of the engine core.

The PW guidance will decide exactly how many engines will need to be inspected and repaired. If the number is large, it could have a significant impact on IndiGo capacity. “The extent of impact will be known only when PW issues the technical guidance. We are hearing (not from PW) that the latest engine trouble will impact 11 IndiGo planes, of which six are already grounded. But the exact number will be known next month only after PW guidance,” said people in the know.
Clearly, the big concern is the impact on 313-aircraft strong IndiGo. The airline, which accounts for over 60% of domestic passengers and is the largest airline in terms of international carriage in and out of India on a standalone basis, has 136 A320 family lanes with PW engines. Of these 47 are grounded for reasons like PW’s inability to supply replacement engines.
If PW guidance forces a significant number of planes to be grounded for engine checks, the capacity crunch could lead to higher fares at a time when the post GoFirst peak summer season saw domestic fares at record levels.