Grounding of IndiGo, GoAir aircrafts: P&W to resolve engine issues by Sept

Pratt & Whitney has told the Indian government that it will by September resolve technical glitches that have affected its engines and hurt operations of two Indian airlines, an official at the country's aviation regulator said on Thursday.

InterGlobe Aviation, owner of India's IndiGo airlines, and GoAir airlines have been facing delays in receiving planes from Airbus due to ongoing problems with engines developed by Pratt & Whitney.

IndiGo, which on Monday warned the delays were affecting its margins, has been forced to ground as many as nine of its planes on certain days due to the engine problems.

The concern around grounding of planes affecting flight schedules of the airlines was raised on Thursday by India's aviation regulator in a meeting attended by executives from Pratt & Whitney, Airbus, Indigo and GoAir, an official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said.

 

"P&W (Pratt & Whitney) assured that by Sept 2017, they will ensure that there is no grounding of aircraft," said the official, who did not wish to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The regulator has been investigating issues that have arisen with the Pratt & Whitney engines in Airbus Group's A320neo narrow-body jets brought into service over the past year by the two local carriers.

The model accounts for only a small part of the IndiGo and GoAir fleets, but numbers are set to grow rapidly with IndiGo having over 400 of the jets on order and GoAir set to add over 100.