IndiGo suffers engine glitches again, forced to ground two A320 Neo planes

IndiGo had to ground 11 A320 Neos between February and March this year due to safety concerns

The engine troubles hit budget carrier IndiGo again with the airline forced to ground two of its Airbus A320 Neo planes due to technical glitches, according to a source.

The two Pratt & Whitney engine-powered A320 Neo planes were taken out of operations on Friday, the source said.

IndiGo, which had to ground 11 A320 Neos between February and March this year due to safety concerns, confirmed that it had pulled out two of its planes from the service.

The airline further said that the two planes are back into operations now.

Significantly, the airline had earlier this month said all its aircraft, which had been taken out of service following directives of the European aviation safety regulator Easa and India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), were back into flying after the change of engines by the US engine supplier Pratt & Whitney.

"IndiGo was forced to ground two A320 Neo planes on Friday due to engine glitches. While one aircraft was grounded at Ranchi due to oil leakage, the other one was taken out of service at the Dibrugarh airport as its fire warning system had stopped functioning," the source said.

When contacted, an IndiGo spokesperson said while one A320 Neo was grounded due to a false warning in the cockpit, another one was taken out of service due to a minor oil leak.

Both the aircraft are back into flying now, the spokesperson said, adding that the grounding of these planes did not take place on account of known 'PW' issues but due to day-to-day issues of "operational nature".