IndiGo, GoAir asked to immediately ground 11 'faulty' aircraft

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday ordered GoAir and IndiGo to ground 11 Airbus A-320 New engine option (Neo) aircraft with immediate effect that are fitted with a faulty type of Pratt & Whitney (PW) engines.

The DGCA swung into action after the engine of an IndiGo A-320 Neo failed after the takeoff from Ahmedabad on Monday. The Lucknow-bound aircraft had to return and make an emergency landing in Ahmedabad.

The regulatory body also warned the two airlines not to refit the spare engines (PW1100 engines beyond serial number 450) that they have in their inventory.

Out of the grounded aircraft, eight planes are with IndiGo and three with GoAir.

The IndiGo, in a statement, said, "We are in receipt of the communication from the DGCA and we shall promptly comply with the directions of the DGCA. The affected engines are beyond a certain serial number and after the necessary engine swaps, none of these affected engines shall be operated by IndiGo."

In a statement, the GoAir also said it has also complied with the DGCA orders immediately.

In view of few occurrences of aborted take-offs and in-flight shut down (IFSD) happening on A-320 Neos worldwide, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) had on February 9 issued an emergency airworthiness directive for A-320 Neos fitted with PW1100 engines (from serial number 450 and beyond).

Immediately after this, three A-320s of IndiGo were grounded in India as these planes had both engines of the flagged type.

At that time "11 other A-320 Neos aircraft (eight in IndiGo fleet and three in Go Air fleet) were allowed to operate as they were fitted with one affected engine having ESN 450 and beyond," the DGCA statement said.

The DGCA statement added since then there have been three cases of an in-flight shutdown of A-320 Neos fitted with one affected PW1100 engine. These were: GoAir A-320 Neo (VT-WGB) after take-off from Leh on February 24; IndiGo A-320 Neo (VT-ITJ) after take-off from Mumbai on March 5 and IndiGo A-320 Neo (VT-ITA) after take-off from Ahmedabad on March 12.