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The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has authorised IndiGo to wet lease 11 Airbus A320 neo family aircraft, according to a senior official at DGCA. The move comes as several of IndiGo's A320 neo planes, powered by Pratt & Whitney (PW) engines, are grounded for safety reasons.
Under a wet lease agreement, lessors provide not only the aircraft but also the crew and maintenance services. IndiGo did not respond to queries from Business Standard before the press deadline.
Issues with PW engines have been a recurring problem for IndiGo in recent years. As of 1 August, about 10 per cent of IndiGo's total fleet of 323 aircraft was grounded, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. All 33 grounded aircraft are powered by PW engines.
In July, Pratt & Whitney disclosed that a particular condition in the powdered metal used for manufacturing certain engine parts would necessitate accelerated fleet inspection. This will require the inspection of more than 1,200 engines worldwide within 12 months, including approximately 200 'accelerated removals' from jets equipped with PW1100G-JM engines. The company indicated that the inspections need to be completed by mid-September of this year and clarified that current production-phase engines are not impacted.
Last month, a DGCA official revealed that the aviation regulator was conducting an extensive investigation into two separate incidents involving PW engine malfunctions on IndiGo flights. The affected flights were operating on the Madurai-Mumbai and Kolkata-Bengaluru routes. Both planes landed safely, one in Mumbai and the other in Kolkata.
In a related development, GoFirst, an airline grounded in May, directly attributed engine snags to Pratt & Whitney, which led to the grounding of approximately half of its 54 aircraft due to delays in engine supply by the manufacturer.
