How long before IndiGo can fly its grounded fleet?
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. IndiGo’s flight expansion plan is facing headwinds due to the grounding of over 70 aircraft on account of problems with its Pratt & Whitney engines. The grounding has implications for the aviation sector and air fares.
Is there a resolution in sight? Mint explains. The key reason is problems with the combustion chamber of Pratt & Whitney’s Gear Turbo Fan (GTF) engines. Detected in 2020, they impacted airlines across the world.
Hot climate and dust in the atmosphere caused problems for the engines. Airlines in India and West Asia were, therefore, more impacted. This problem shortened the life cycle of an engine—every engine can run for a certain number of hours but Pratt & Whitney’s engines didn’t meet that benchmark.
In a normal scenario, the engines would have been replaced quickly. But supply chain issues, post the covid-19 pandemic, impacted deliveries. Read more: GST to incentives: Centre working on plan to reduce ATF prices IndiGo already has over 70 aircraft grounded due to the unavailability of engines.
That number has stabilized for some time now—this indicates that the situation may not worsen. The airline is still reporting engine failures in the range of 5-15 per month. For now, Pratt & Whitney has been supplying enough engines for the airline to be able to replace the failed ones.
Other than the engine issue, IndiGo’s grounding record is one of the lowest across the world. The airline practices ‘predictive’ maintenance. Apart from technical headwinds, planes can be grounded because of bird hits and challenges with airports.
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