Pratt engine issue delays Airbus plane deliveries to Indian carriers

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's IndiGo and GoAir airlines are facing delays in receiving planes from Airbus due to ongoing problems with engines developed by Pratt & Whitney, the minister of state for civil aviation said on Thursday.

The carriers "have confirmed that these issues have impacted the delivery of aircraft," Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to lawmakers.

State-owned carrier Air India has also experienced some delay in getting deliveries of some A320neo aircraft fitted with engines made by rival CFM International, he said.

Airbus, which reported a drop in mid-year profits earlier on Thursday, has turned up the heat on Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies, asking it to "work harder" to fix reliability problems that have disrupted its biggest production line and caused delays in deliveries to customers.

The world's second-largest planemaker aims to deliver some 200 A320neo-family jets in 2017. In the first half, it delivered just 16 Pratt-powered A320neo jets, barely a third of the 43 powered by competing CFM engines, sources have told Reuters.

Technical issues with Pratt & Whitney engines have forced IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation, to ground seven of the narrow-body jets, while, according to The Times of India, GoAir has started cancelling flights. India's aviation regulator is investigating the issue.

Pratt & Whitney has told the regulator it will address the problems, Sinha said.

(Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Mark Potter)