Mumbai: The Bombay High Court will hear on Friday a Public Interest Litigation filed by a city-based businessman on faulty Airbus Neo engines manufactured by Pratt & Whitney (P&W), which have made headlines recently due to frequent in-flight engine shutdowns.
On March 12, the DGCA grounded 11 A320 Neo aircraft: eight belong to IndiGo, three to GoAir. There have been a number of reports of P&W engines malfunctioning.
The petitioner, Harish Agrawal, said both the airlines should not fly their A320 Neo aircraft fitted with P&W engines with immediate effect till the snags are rectified and a fresh certificate of airworthiness is issued by the DGCA.
“We served notices on the DGCA on March 9. It appears that action has been initiated. But the issue is this should have been done much before. Despite a safety issue, the airlines continue flying these aircraft due to commercial interests,” his lawyer Savita Nangare said.
Mr. Agrawal also said that IndiGo and GoAir are operating 45 A320 Neo aircraft and have ordered another 504. A copy of the European Aviation Safety Agency’s emergency airworthiness directive for the A320 Neo along with news reports have been attached to the petition. Ms. Nangare said during research, the petitioner had found that in March 2017, the DGCA had asked P&W to fix snags in its engines. The petitioner alleged that the DGCA had all long ignored the safety aspect, nor did it investigate the regular engine snags.
The aviation regulator, Indigo, and Go Air are expected to file their replies.
“These aircraft were also not appropriate to be flown over the sea. They have taken people’s lives for granted. What is the DGCA’s interest in allowing these aircraft to fly,” Ms. Nangare said.
Flights cancelled
Meanwhile, IndiGo has cancelled 80 flights till March 31 as a result of eight Airbus Neo aircraft being grounded. The airline has cancelled 36 flights between March 15 and March 21, 18 flights between March 22 and March 24, and 26 flights from March 25 to March 31. These include important routes like Delhi-Bengaluru, Delhi-Hyderabad, and Chennai-Kolkata. Airline sources said over the next 15 days, Indigo will have 488 cancellations, while GoAir will have 138 cancellations.
