Engine snag forces Hyderabad-bound IndiGo flight to return to Mumbai

A Hyderabad-bound Pratt & Whitney-powered Airbus A320neo plane operated by IndiGo was forced to return to Mumbai while flying to Hyderabad on Thursday due to an engine snag. This is the 23rd engine snag the airline has faced with Pratt engines in the last two years.The latest incident comes amid heightened safety concerns, primarily due to a series of snags with PW-powered Airbus A320neo planes, which make up for a large portion of IndiGo's fleet. According to a DGCA official, IndiGo flight 6E- 5384 was involved “in air turn back to Mumbai due to stalling of engine one and in-flight shut down”.

"A loud bang, high EGT (exhaust gas tempreture), high vibrations were observed and engine one was shut down and aircraft landed back safely at Mumbai," the official said.

PW engines on A320neos have suffered repeated snags over the past few months causing large-scale flight disruptions affecting thousands of passengers and raising safety concerns. DGCA had told India’s largest domestic airline IndiGo in November that its efforts to modify the glitch-prone older PW engines on A320neo aircraft were not satisfactory. The Indian civil aviation regulator had intervened following several incidents of technical snags involving PW-powered A320neo planes operated by IndiGo last year.

IndiGo will have to procure as much as 135 engines and replace all its old engines with modified ones by 31 May, according to plans submitted to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Airbus, and PW.