DGCA carrying out technical evaluation of 2 incidents with IndiGo planes

Aviation regulator DGCA in close coordination with IndiGo is carrying out the "technical evaluation" of the engine issues faced by the airline's two aircraft on Tuesday, according to an official.

Two flights of IndiGo, one from Kolkata to Bengaluru and another from Madurai to Mumbai suffered engine issues on Tuesday.

In a statement, IndiGo said its flight 6E 455 from Kolkata to Bengaluru returned to Kolkata after take off due to a technical issue. The pilot followed standard operating procedures and landed back in Kolkata.

The flight 6E-2012 operating from Madurai to Mumbai had a technical issue prior to landing in Mumbai and the pilot prioritised the landing in Mumbai, the airline said in a separate statement. The aircraft is held at Mumbai and will be back in operation after necessary maintenance, it added.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is doing the technical evaluation of both the incidents "in close coordination with the operator", the senior official at the regulator said on Wednesday.

IndiGo's fleet is powered by Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines and a number of aircraft are on the ground.

On August 2, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers had said the number of aircraft impacted by the supply-chain challenge issues was in the high thirties. "I would actually label it now around 40".

Elbers, on August 24, told shareholders that the airline is taking a whole range of mitigating measures are being taken to deal with the situation arising out of grounded aircraft.

"We are dealing with some AOG situation... AOG is being dealt with a whole range of mitigating measures. These measures were announced at the end of last year and have been effective in order to make sure that we deliver our capacity guidance that we provided to the market and shareholders earlier," the IndiGo CEO had said.

At the end of June, IndiGo had a fleet of 316 planes, including 166 A320 neos, 87 A321 neos and two planes on wet lease.