NEW DELHI: InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, operator of
IndiGo, said on Wednesday it grounded five
Airbus A320 neo aircraft at New Delhi airport after issues with their engines manufactured by United Technologies' Pratt & Whitney.
The aircraft are expected to be back in service in the second half of August, InterGlobe Aviation said in a statement.
IndiGo again grapples with P&W engine woes; 4 planes face glitches in one week
Country's largest airline IndiGo is again battling Pratt & Whitney engine problems, with at least four of its planes experiencing glitches in one week. On June 3, an IndiGo flight carrying 183 passengers from Delhi to Ranchi was forced to return to the airport in national capital due to mid-air engine shut-down.
"IndiGo has grounded five of its A320neo aircraft due to P&W issues. These aircraft are currently grounded at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport," a source said.
Since the induction of
A320 neo planes powered by P&W engines in March 2016, IndiGo has intermittently been facing engine issues and has grounded some of these aircraft on earlier occasions also. The problems varied from mid-air engine shut downs to oil chip detection.
In March this year, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (
DGCA) had ordered immediate grounding of 11 Airbus 320 neo planes after repeated mid-air aircraft engine failures. Following this, IndiGo and GoAir had decided to cancel more than 600 flights following grounding of 11 A320 neo planes with faulty Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines.
"The release of additional spare engines has been initiated by P&W so that all aircraft are expected to be back in service in the second half of August," a spokesperson said in a statement.
However, the spokesperson did not mention whether flight services have been disrupted due to the grounding of five planes.
InterGlobe shares fell 3.2 per cent to their lowest in 14 months in afternoon trade in Mumbai.
(With agency inputs)
File image used for representation
