IndiGo will ground as many planes as Air India Express + Akasa Air in Jan to Mar quarter

livemint.com:

Pratt & Whitney nightmares continue Since induction in March 2016, Pratt & Whitney GTF engine performance has troubled IndiGo, like many other airlines in the world. A delayed induction led by inflight shutdowns and warnings leading to diversions had become a common occurrence, so much so that the regulator had to step in. The new measures meant that inspections had to be done earlier than planned, leading to more down time for the plane and additional work for the engineering team.

New issues have continued to drop up at regular intervals with current aircraft being grounded for want of engines, which are not readily available due to supply chain issues. Interesting as it may seem, Pratt & Whitney had surpassed 800 orders and commitments for its GTF engine between January and June this year. The engine manufacturer had not informed airlines about the powder metal issue until then.

The airline still expects to maintain its capacity guidance for Q3 (current quarter) and FY24 as a whole where it expects to grow “in the north of mid-teens". The airline’s guidance on growth and groundings has moved to a broad number with a prefix of upper, lower and mid in the last few quarters as compared to specifics. The only silver lining in the whole issue has been that this hasn’t come as a surprise.

The airline is inducting 11 A320s on wet-lease and signing deals for 20 A320ceo on dry lease. This will augment capacity closer to what will go out additionally from the fleet. Just how many Pratt & Whitney planes with IndiGo? IndiGo has a fleet of over 330 aircraft.

112 A320neos and 25 A321neo, a total of 137 aircraft are powered by Pratt & Whitney. This is 41% of the total fleet of IndiGo. When the AOG situation reaches its peak, to be