Indigo may ground 35 planes in March quarter

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Air travellers may face some delays and inconvenience as India’s biggest airline Indigo may ground about 35 of its aircraft. The airline said on Tuesday said it expects at least 35 planes to be grounded due to powder metal issue with the Pratt & Whitney engines during the March quarter next year.

The airline already has 40 of its aircraft on the ground due to other issues with the P&W engines. This may lead to capacity issues due to the significant number of grounded aircraft in the March quarter even as various measures are being taken to address the situation.

“We have recently received additional information on the powder metal issue from Pratt & Whitney and based on our preliminary assessment of this, we anticipate Aircraft on Ground (AOG) in the range of mid-thirties in the fourth quarter (Jan-Mar2024) due to accelerated engine removals. These groundings will be incremental to the current AOGs,” IndiGo said in a statement.

Earlier this year, P&W had highlighted the impact of the powder metal issue that has affected its new generation GTF aircraft engine.

“Globally, we understand that a large number of incremental engines ranging between 600-700 are being removed for accelerated inspections and shop visits between 2023 and 2026 and two-thirds of these engine removals are planned for 2023 and early 2024,” IndiGo said. The airline will continue to work with P&W on more information and addressing the situation and improving the availability of engines.

“We also confirm our earlier capacity guidance for the entire FY23-24 ‘in the North of mid-teens’ significantly aided by proactive mitigation measures taken earlier by IndiGo… IndiGo also remains confident in meeting its long-term capacity guidance,” the statement said.